Facts About Chocolate

The oldest use of the cacao bean which is what chocolate is made of, dates back to from 1100 BC to 1400 BC. Evidence of this fact was found in 2007 by archeologists working in Puerto Escondito, Honduras. A white pulp found in an ancient vessel showed that the people of that time did not just use cacao as a drink but in their food preparation as well. The Mayan people grew cacao trees in their back yards, and used it to make drinks and fermented the sugars to make alcoholic drinks. They also used chocolate for certain ceremonial rituals.

Chocolate has a calming effect when consumed as a drink or a solid. Today we still use chocolate to relax or to fight fatigue. The people of the European and South American cultures used chocolate to cure diarrhea. A cup of hot chocolate or a piece of chocolate candy can help you to fall asleep faster. And nothing is more calming than a glass of cold chocolate milk on a hot day.

Chocolate has always been considered to be a luxury and today it is still considered something of a luxury. However, there was time when cacao beams were used as money with which to make purchases and to pay taxes. Each bean had a value of one. If an item cost a dollar then one hundred cacao beans were used to pay for that item. The Aztecs grew cacao beans in order to pay their taxes.

In the sixteenth century after the Spaniards conquered the Aztecs, chocolate was imported to Europe for the first time. At that time, due to the expense, only royalty could afford to have chocolate. The first milk chocolate drink was made in Jamaica in i1696 by a physician, Hans Sloane which could be purchase by prescription. His recipe was sold to the Cadbury brothers in the year 1897.

Dark chocolate has always been used to help certain ailments: it was thought it improved the circulatory system; it is considered to prevent certain cancers; it is used as a brain stimulator; cough preventor and anitdiarrheal to name a few. Manufacturers of laxatives such as Ex Lax use chocolate as a base because it is so much more pleasant to take than most laxatives. No matter what the purpose of eating or drinking chocolate is, it is an enjoyable product.

Today chocolate is used not just as a candy or a drink: we can bake chocolate pies, cakes and cookies with it; as a chocolate pudding, added to gravies; some cultures add it to their coffee; chocolate syrups, frostings and confectionary embellishments to cakes; cocktails and chocolate cups to serve the cocktails in; and any other way you can think of. One unique way of using chocolate is to have your business card made of chocolate. What better way to have you and you business remembered than to give a prospective client, or existing client, your business card made of delicious chocolate.