Cocoa and Chocolate - A Brief History
At the begining of the 16th century, during the conquest of Mexico, the Spaniards learnt about cocoa.For the indigenous population (the Aztecs), the cocoa bean was of divine origin; that is why Linnaeus named the cacao tree Theobroma cacao (Theobroma = food of the gods).
The beans were roasted and ground, and then diluted with water to obtain a cloudy drink, to which vanilla and other spices were added.
The Aztecs called this mixture "cacau-atl".
On the Spaniards return, news travelled quickly and their recipe was implemented throughout Europe. At around 1700, the "cocoa" drink (to which honey or sugar were added) was widely known.
The colonial powers of the time exported the cacao tree to Africa and Asia.
Production, consumption and trading of cocoa increased constantly. However, the most rapid expansion occurred in the 19th century, after 1828, when Van Houten discovered a method for removing a large proportion of the fat from the cocoa butter.
This marked the start of the production of bars and slabs of chocolate.
Chocoholics
In the United Kingdom we consume over 350 million kilos of chocolate annually and 51% of us are considered to be chocoholics. Switzerland is the Mecca of chocoholics with each person consuming 10 kilos of chocolate each per year; that’s twice the amount per person that is consumed in the USA and United Kingdom.
Maybe the champion chocoholic of all time was Aztec Emperor Montezuma 11. He consumed fifty glasses of a honey sweetened chocolate drink each day and an extra goblet or two before sex, so they say.
Today chocolate is the most commonly craved substance in the USA and Europe, according to a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The good news is that although it is true that chocolate is packed with calories, most of which come from saturated fat, the primary chemical structure that forms the saturated fat in chocolate is stearic acid. Stearic acid, unlike the saturated fatty acids in butter has been shown to increase HDL-cholesterol – the “good” cholesterol that helps clear away artery-clogging LDL-cholesterol.