Chocolate / Cacao

Parts Usually Used

The seeds, cocoa beans, are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate.

Description of Plant(s) and Culture

9 in) broad. The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; this is known as cauliflory. 79 in) diameter, with pink calyx. 1 lb) when ripe. The pod contains 20 to 60 seeds, usually called “beans”, embedded in a white pulp.

Where Found

T. cacao is native to the deep tropical regions of Mesoamerica.

Medicinal Properties

Cocoa is rich in plant chemicals called flavanols that may help to protect the heart. Dark chocolate contains up to 2-3 times more flavanol-rich cocoa solids than milk chocolate. Flavanols have been shown to support the production of nitric oxide in the endolethium (the inner cell lining of blood vessels) that helps to relax the blood vessels and improve blood flow, thereby lowering blood pressure.

Flavanols in chocolate can increase insulin sensitivity in short term studies; in the long run this could reduce risk of diabetes.

Biochemical Information

Flavonoids: Antioxidants and Flavanols Oleic acid (a heart-healthy monounsaturated fat also found in olive oil)

Legends, Myths and Stories

And so they were happy over the provisions of the good mountain, filled with sweet things, . . thick with pataxte and cacao. . the rich foods filling up the citadel named Broken Place, Bitter Water Place. From the Popol Vuh, sacred book of the May It is suggested that chocolate consumption improves brain function, as countries with more chocolate consumers apparently produce significantly more Nobel laureates, possibly through enhanced cognition.

During the 20th century, chocolate was introduced as an essential constitutional drink or snack in soldier rations. Ancel Keys (1904–2004), a University of Minnesota public health scientist who proposed that saturated fat was a major cause of heart disease and championed the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, had designed a lightweight, but nutritionally robust ration for paratroops, the K Ration, named after him, which was originally made up of hard biscuits, dry sausage, hard candy and chocolate.

The K rations were consumed by millions of soldiers in World War II. Wikipedia : Ruby Chocolate The chocolate is made from “ruby cocoa beans”. These are existing botanical cocoa bean varieties that have been identified as having the right attributes to be processed into ruby chocolate. The chocolate’s taste is described as “sweet yet sour”, with “little to none” of the cocoa flavour traditionally associated with other varieties of chocolate.

Kennedy’s Confection magazine editor. With the production methods being kept a trade secret, publications note industry speculation that ruby chocolate is made with unfermented cocoa beans of Brazil Lavados, which can have a natural red-pinkish colour. The company also registered a patent in 2009 for “cocoa-derived material” from unfermented cocoa beans (or beans fermented for no more than three days) that become red or purple after treating them with an acid (citric acid) and then defatting with petroleum ether.

The cocoa content in the product is lower than milk chocolate and the citric acid addition gives the slight sour taste to the product. Monkeys like cacao, too! They bite holes in the pods. Then they sink their teeth into the pulp and seeds, sucking the juice and spitting out the seeds. The discarded seeds then germinate and begin a new generation of cacao trees. Cacao beans were so valuable that ancient counterfeiters risked making fake beans.

Archaeologists have found beans in which the cacao contents had been removed and replaced with clay or wax. In 1579, English pirates burned and sank a Spanish ship filled with cacao beans after they mistakenly thought the beans were sheep droppings. The generic name cacao is derived from the Greek for “food of the gods”; from θεός (theos), meaning “god”, and βρῶμα (broma), meaning “food”.

Cacao beans constituted both a ritual beverage and a major currency system in pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations. At one point, the Aztec empire received a yearly tribute of 980 loads (xiquipil in Nahuatl) of cacao, in addition to other goods. Each load represented exactly 8,000 beans. The buying power of quality beans was such that 80–100 beans could buy a new cloth mantle.

Cocoa is sometimes treated with alkali, or Dutch-processed, to improve the flavor and appearance. However this causes a significant loss of flavanols. Natural cocoa, found in the baking aisle, retains the most flavanols. The higher percentage of cocoa solids, the higher the caffeine content. Two ounces of 70% dark chocolate contains about 50-60 mg caffeine. In comparison, an 8-ounce cup of coffee contains 100-200 milligrams of caffeine.

If your chocolate has developed bloom, no need to throw it out! You can remove the bloom by melting the chocolate, stirring it well, and then allowing it to slowly cool back into a solid. Chocolate is derived from an intensive process of farming, harvesting, and transport, often employing less expensive labor or child labor overseas. “Fair-Trade” labeled chocolate certifies that the chocolate has been manufactured at a fair wage and with the exclusion of child labor.

Though the overall health benefits of modern chocolate remain up for debate, a 2006 study found that eating a little chocolate could have a similar effect to taking an aspirin, and the chocolate compound theobromine has been marketed as an alternative to the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra.

Uses

Historically, herbalists and early medical writers utilized various parts of the cacao plant across a wide range of traditional applications. Sixteenth- through nineteenth-century sources recorded the use of cacao beans, prepared as chocolate, as a restorative intended to nourish the body, recover strength, relieve fatigue, and promote longevity. European writers such as Stubbe, Hughes, and Lavedan noted its traditional use for building blood, supporting the heart, warming the system, and addressing fainting.

It was frequently documented as a digestive aid to awaken appetite, ease dyspepsia, control flatulence, and address griping of the guts, colic, and diarrhea. Early practitioners, including Colmenero de Ledesma, Hernandez, and Linnaeus, also referred to its traditional reputation as an aphrodisiac, a diuretic, an emmenagogue, a vermifuge, and an aid for facilitating conception. It was similarly documented for soothing coughs, catarrh, hoarseness, and shortness of breath, as well as for addressing gout, rheumatism, hemorrhoids, toothache, jaundice, and kidney gravel.

Historical records like the Florentine Codex additionally noted the consumption of cacao preparations to invigorate the spirit and soothe troubled dispositions. The bark of the cacao tree was traditionally prepared and consumed for addressing abdominal pain and bloody fluxes. Cacao butter and oil were widely applied in folk medicine both externally and internally. Historic pharmaceutical accounts and regional traditions recorded its application for softening the skin, soothing burns, wounds, chapped lips, cracked nipples, and hemorrhoids.

It was also documented as a traditional remedy for catarrh, bronchitis, general respiratory distress, and indigestion. Infusions and baths prepared from cacao flowers were traditionally employed to address fatigue, apathy, timidity, foot cuts, and toothache, as noted in early texts including the Badianus Manuscript. Additionally, folk traditions documented the topical application of fresh cacao leaves for staunching cuts and addressing wounds.

How Sold

Choclate is sold in many forms in the grocery. Shoppers can tell how much cocoa liquor is in a dark chocolate bar by looking for the “percent cacao” figure on the label.