Yummy chocolate, made from the seeds of the Mesoamerican cacao tree, contains some of the most beneficial substances we can eat.
Mmmmm, chocolate. Delectable, mouth-watering, rich, sweet, satisfying chocolate. Except it isn't, of course. Sweet, that is. It's all the rest and more. But, take sugar and other ingredients that dilute the natural taste away, and consume it fresh from the tree, and the substance is true pucker power in action. Fermenting chocolate beans develops its rich flavor. The fermented beans are cleaned, dried, and roasted and the shells removed. The resulting nibs are ground and liquefied and then used to produce cocoa solids and cocoa butter. A maker sometimes use a process called conching, which involves tumbling the product with metal beads. This smoothes the solids and produces the scrumptious, melting-on-the-tongue texture of chocolate. White chocolate, incidentally, is made from cocoa butter, with added milk and sugar. The white variety contains no cocoa solids.
Chocolate pods are red to purple, large, football-shaped, and sprout from stems and branches of the cacao tree, found in tropical forests throughout Mesoamerica (Mexico, Central America, tip of South America.) The fruit is psychoactive, or mood-affecting. (We knew that.)
People have consumed chocolate beverages since the time of the Maya and the Aztecs, where priests used it in religious ceremonies and offered to the Gods. In the Aztec language, the name for the drink they made from it, xocolātl, means “bitter water.” When it was imported to Europe by the Spaniards in the early 1500's, chocolate began its metamorphosis into the rich, sweet treat we know today.
But chocolate, according to recent research, may offer far more than its delectable, addictive flavor. Preliminary results indicate it may lower blood pressure, keep your blood flowing and contribute to heart health. Chocolates contains flavonoids, known to be antioxidants. Oxidation is a chemical transformation that contributes to damaging cell structures. Antioxidants protect against that transformation. A study of 8000 Harvard grads revealed that chocoholics live longer, perhaps because of the anti-oxidants.
In February, the American Association for the Advancement of Science presented research that relates the consumption of flavonoid-rich foods with a reduced risk of cardio-vascular disease. Dark chocolate is higher in flavonoids than milk chocolate, and the greater the percentage of cocoa solids, the more flavonoids it contains. The way milk chocolate is produced removes most flavonoids.
One recent study revealed that chocolate contains a substance that helps the body process nitric oxide. Nitric oxide is essential for healthy blood flow and blood pressure. Like red wine, tea, grapes, strawberries, blueberries and acaí (ah-sigh-ee), a South American berry, chocolate is rich in flavonoids.
In some subjects, chocolate was found to act much like low-dose aspirin in maintaining the healthy flow of blood. The reaction of small squares of dark chocolate was similar to the reaction of 82-milligram doses of aspirin. While people are cautioned not to substitute chocolate for prescribed daily doses of aspirin, the research in this are is promising in preventing strokes and heart attacks.
Chocolate contains theobromine, caffeine, tyramine and phenylethylamine, substances that contribute to alertness, and to a sense of well-being, and reduce pain. It contains tryptophan, which produces serotonin and endorphins, reducing anxiety and sensitivity to pain.
Is it any wonder that we find the smooth, rich taste of chocolate addicting? What's not to like? Chocolate, as you've heard recently, is a vegetable.
