The word ‘Chocolate’ is derived from the Mayan word xocoatl; its history is as rich as the substance itself. July 7th marks the anniversary of when Europeans ‘discovered’ chocolate (like how they ‘discovered’ America!) and it is now recognized as Chocolate Day!  You didn’t think I’d let you miss a holiday about CHOCOLATE, did you? No. Because friends don’t let friends miss an opportunity to eat chocolate. (On that note, World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28. The Holy Trifecta of Holidays! Well, besides those other ones.)

I’ve used  Aphrodisiac to Health Food: A Cultural History of Chocolate, by Louis E. Grivetti and good ol’ Google to create a timeline of how chocolate has been used throughout the ages, from treatment of chapped lips, rashes and bronchitis to providing sustenance and energy. (They forgot to mention giving Foodgasms, so I’ll just add that in here myself) Chocolate/cacao has also been used as a remedy for anemia, poor appetite, mental fatigue, poor breast milk production, consumption/tuberculosis, fever, gout, kidney stones, reduced longevity and poor sexual appetite and low virility.Cacao bark, oil leaves and flowers have been used to treat burns, bowel dysfunction, cuts and skin irritations.Who knew chocolate was so versatile?

My favorite find was a from J. Millam Ponce, MD, who said,

(I’m assuming it was that to alleviate colic for it’s diuretic effect- maybe thought to help the baby pass any stomach bubbles or bugs?) Having just passed the 6 months exclusively breastfeeding mark, I’m going to break through my own “Doctors are just people getting paid” mentality and take this as a free pass to send my SO out for an almond milk mocha when the baby is crying. (I don’t drink cow milk or even like milk chocolate; dairy has been shown to prevent absorption of the nutrient rich benefits found in dark chocolate and cocoa, but that’s for another post)

So where did all this deliciousness start? Well, let me tell you.

Before initial European-Mexican contact in 1519 cacao was taken only as a beverage and reserved for adult males including priests, high government officials, military officers, distinguished warriors and sacrificial victims, since cacao was considered intoxicating and unsuitable for women and children- harumph!

• 1558: Francisco Redi, an Italian Chief Physician became court physician to Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany and created a hot chocolate recipe for him, who relied on this drink daily. It was thought that the prince was a hypocrondriac or that his illness claims were to disguise his need for the chocolate drink. Ah, royalty and their entourage of enablers- nothing new…

• 1577: Francisco Hernández, a naturalist and court physician to the King of Spain, wrote that pure cacao paste prepared as a beverage treated fever and liver disease. He also mentioned that toasted, ground cacao beans mixed with resin were effective against dysentery and that chocolate beverages were commonly prescribed to thin patients in order for them to gain “flesh.” Um, super. Once again, custom advice for this skinnybitch. Bring it on!

• 1590: Franciscan friar Bernardino de Sahagún offered a prescription of cacao beans, maize and the herb tlacoxochitl (Calliandra anomala) to alleviate fever and panting of breath and to treat the faint of heartvia the Florentine Codex, an ethnographic research project in Mesoamerica. It was also perscribed to treat emaciated patients facilitate weight gain, to stimulate nervous systems of apathetic, exhausted or feeble patients, also to improve digestion and elimination to counter the effects of stagnant or weak stomachs, stimulate kidneys and improve bowel function.

• 1592: Agustin Farfan published the Tractado Breve de Medicina, which said that chili peppers, rhubarb, and vanilla were used by the Mexica as purgatives and that chocolate beverages served hot doubled as laxatives. Wait, laxatives are NOT for gaining “flesh”. Oh well. I’m an American- we just choose our facts anyhow, right? I repeat: Bring it on!

• 1604: José de Acosta wrote that chili was sometimes added to chocolate beverages and that eating chocolate paste was good for stomach disorders. Chocolate paste? Can I brush my teeth with it?

• 1624 : Santiago de Valverde Turices concluded that chocolate drank in great quantities was beneficial for treatment of chest ailments and in small quantities was excellent medicine for stomach disorders, and that argued that cacao was “cold” by nature, whereas chocolate prepared from beans was “hot” and “dry” and therefore suitable to prescribe to those suffering from “cold” or “wet” illnesses.

• 1631: Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma wrote his treatise on chocolate, Curioso Tratado de la Naturaleza. He said that cacao preserved health and made consumers fat, corpulent, faire and amiable and “causeth conception in women … takes away the morpheus, cleaneth the teeth, sweetneth the breath, provokes urine, cures the stone, expels poison, and preserves from all infectious diseases”

• 1662: Henry Stubbe noted that in the Indies, chocolate was drunk twice each day to restore energy, and that Indian women often survived entirely on chocolate yet did not exhibit a decline in strength, while it strengthened the brain, comforted the womb and dissipated excessive “winde,” or flatus, while vanilla added to chocolate strengthened the heart, “beget strong spirits” and promoted digestion in the stomach. And when achiote was mixed with chocolate it “allays feverish distempers, repels praeternatural tumors, and strengthens the gums” Chocolate: Friend to women as soon as we were allowed to consume it. He noted that chocolate “…helps to digest ill humors, voiding the excrement by sweat, and urine” and that “one may live months, and years using nothing but chocolate”. I might be willing to try that…

• 1631: Colmenero de Ledesma reported that cacao preserved consumers’ health, made them corpulent, improved their complexions, and made their dispositions more agreeable. He wrote that drinking chocolate incited love-making, led to conception in women, and facilitated delivery. He also claimed that chocolate aided digestion and cured tuberculosis.

• 1850s: Baron von Liebig, a famed German chemist stated, “Chocolate is a perfect food…. It agrees with dry temperaments and convalescents; with mothers who nurse their children; with those whom occupations oblige them to undergo severe mental strains; with public speakers, and with all those who give to work a portion of the time needed for sleep.  It soothes both stomach and brain, and for this reason, as well as for others, it is the best friend of those engaged in literary pursuits.”

Whatever the reason, chocolate has remained a staple in our culture throughout the ages. I also came across 10 Interesting Chocolate Facts: Where I learned chocolate is technically responsible for the microwave! Scientists were experimenting with micro waves in hopes of creating better radar detectors in the wake of World War II and testing devices called magnetrons. A scientist named Percy Spencer entered the lab with a chocolate bar in his pocket and realized it quickly began to melt. Spencer then realized that the magnetron could potentially be used to cook food.  He successfully tried popping corn and then attempted to cook an egg which cooked so quickly, it blew up in his face… and now you know!

Well, at least there’s that…

Alas, even chocolate is not free from the grip of Big Brother; Chocolate Day is a day recognized by the National Confectioners Association, the brains behind The Coalition for Sugar Reform. It turns out that Americans pay twice as much for sugar as the rest of the world– nevermind the obesity rate and the amounts at which we consume it. In addition to the harmful effects of refined sugar on our bodies, sugar production has repeatedly been identified as a contributor to pollution and ecosystem damage. The State of Florida has attempted to buy large tracts of land to halt sugar production; The Everglades Trust is a founding member of the CSR as well. Big Brother likes Big Sugar, just like Big Pharma! I guess nothing really IS safe anymore.

Feel free and follow suit and take the excuse to grab a hot chocolate, a handful of M&Ms, some Chocolate Therapy Ben & Jerry’s, your favorite cookie, cake or whatever form of mom crack chocolate you like best and dig in! You could go all-out and book a treatment at a Chocolate Day Spa or take or entire vacation to experience the history of cocoa, cultivation and the process used in making chocolate in Mayan culture and tour the Eco Museo del Cacao in Tikul, Mexico. Or, if you’re like me and have your hands full and bank account empty, you can take an e-visit to the Chocolate Museum in Belgium. It’s a fun, quick & informative trip!