Chocolate's benefits on health

High quality chocolate (with more than 60 to 70% of cocoa solids) has long been recognized as having many qualities which are highly beneficial to your health.

If eating chocolate makes you feel good, it is not only for its "melt-in-the mouth" consistency and great taste but also because it contains mood-lifting chemicals which act as a mild aphrodisiac and cheer you up immediately.

Chocolate also presents numerous long-term health benefits.

It contains essential trace elements and nutrients such as iron, calcium and potassium, and vitamins A. B1, C, D, and E. It is also the highest natural source for Magnesium which is beneficial for the Cardiovascular System and hypertension.

Finally, it contains the same type of disease-fighting "phenolic" chemicals as red wine and fruits and vegetables. Recent scientific studies have shown that phenolics extracted from chocolate suppressed cell-damaging chemicals leading to chronic disease such as cancer and heart disease, and boosted immune functioning in human blood samples.

So now that this groundless guilty feeling about eating chocolate is definitely gone, which of our chocolates are you going to try first?

Chocolate's history

Europeans first tasted chocolate in 1519 when the Aztec emperor Moctezuma greeted Cortés and his army with a drink of xocolatl in Tenochtitlán (today's Mexico City). At that time, the cacao bean - called cacahuatl - was ground into a paste and mixed with spices, vanilla and a small amount of honey. The resulting beverage was relatively bitter but highly regarded.

The first commercial shipment occurred in 1585 when a load of beans was sent from Veracruz in Mexico to Sevilla in Spain. For almost 100 years, preparation of the drink remained a Spanish secret, until it was finally introduced into Italy in 1706, and from there into France. The beverage soon became very popular, and chocolate houses spread all over Europe. In the United States, chocolate was first manufactured in 1765.

The invention of the cocoa press in 1828 by C. J. Van Houten, a Dutch chocolate master, helped reduce the price of chocolate and bring it to the masses. Chocolate was only available as cocoa or as a liquid until 1879. It was Rodolphe Lindt who invented the chocolate bar that "snaps" when broken as well as melting on the tongue.

Chocolate candies became popular during World War I. U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps had commissioned various American chocolate manufacturers to provide 20 - 40 pound blocks of chocolate to be shipped to bases in the field. The blocks were chopped up into smaller pieces and distributed to doughboys in Europe.
By the end of the War, the returning doughboys assured the American chocolate business. Today, chocolate remains a prime ingredient in some quintessential American desserts - chocolate chip cookies, brownies, chocolate ice cream.