Few decadent foods are craved and consumed as much as chocolate. Americans alone eat about 5 billion dollar's worth of the confection each year. What are chocolate's origins, and why does it cause so many of us to swoon when we partake?
Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, that is Theobroma Cacao for those of you who are botanists. Theobroma is Greek for "food of the gods." Makes sense to me. Many historians credit the Aztecs for harvesting the cacao beans from the pods of the cacao trees. Indeed the word "chocolate," comes from the Aztec xocolatl, meaning "bitter water." Those crazy Aztecs made a sort of chocolate bean drink, but reserved it for their gods and/or rulers. The thick, bitter drink supposedly had aphrodisiacal qualities, and legends say that Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 cups of the bitter chocolate drink every day. I suspect when he was not ruling the Aztec people, he was attending Chocoholics Anonymous meetings. So valued were the cacao beans, the Aztecs also used them as currency.
Christopher Columbus encountered the cacao beans during his fourth and final voyage to the Americas (Honduras to be exact). He seized a ship that had the beans on board, and promptly brought them back to Spain. The Spanish added sugar to the otherwise bitter bean-drink, and it quickly became a popular among the nobility. More and more Europeans began cultivating cacao in their colonies, which unfortunately meant more natives were enslaved to meet the demands of the western world. It also meant more and more "common" folk were able to enjoy the unique flavor of chocolate.
It was not until 1828 that the "modern era" of chocolate making and production began. That year, Dutch chocolate maker Conrad J. van Houten patented a method for extracting the fat from roasted cacao beans. The extracted fat was then pulverized into a powder known as "cocoa." This pioneered others to experiment, and by 1849, English chocolate maker Joseph Storrs Fry produced the world's first eating chocolate. Let us all close our eyes and silently thank Mr. Fry.
Science is not satisfied with the knowledge that people like chocolate; scientists are determined to discover WHY people like it. Their quest has turned up some interesting trivia and even more that is downright boring. Chocolate contains more than 300 known chemicals. Among those chemicals, caffeine (a known stimulant) plays a fairly small role. Chocolate also contains another stimulant, Theobromine, in slightly higher amounts. Some scientists claim the combination of these two ingredients are what give you the "lift" sometimes associated with chocolate. There are numerous studies claiming that chocolate contains high levels of chemicals known as phenolics, some of which may help lower the risk of heart disease. I am circumspect of studies such as these. When I was growing up, the "experts" said eating chocolate caused acne. Some of us took our chances anyway, but experienced guilt every time a pimple appeared. Now experts say acne has almost nothing to do with your diet. There probably were no experts back then anyway, just our parents who did not want us to eat junk food. Come to think of it, that is not such a bad idea.
One last note on chocolate. If you have ever tasted the expensive stuff (usually imported varieties), you know the difference. Like fine wine, producing high quality chocolate depends on numerous factors including the quality of the beans, proper fermentation, and the roasting and refining process. Whether you like a bitter dark chocolate (my favorite), or a mellow, milk chocolate, you probably do not need a study to convince you of the attributes of chocolate. More than likely, you just need an excuse to indulge.
Adlen Robinson is a free lance food writer and columnist. Feel free to send her an email with your questions at [email protected].
Tuesday
August 5th, 2025
12:28AM
