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Chocolate originally used for bitter drink

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The Mayans and Aztecs of what is now Mexico, Central America and the northern part of South America discovered cocoa beans and started plantations thousands of years ago. Beans were taken from the Thebroma cacao, a tree that only grows in rain and tropical forests. They were crushed and then mixed with spices in hot water to make a bitter drink.

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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 06/02/2002 (8615 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

  • The Mayans and Aztecs of what is now Mexico, Central America and the northern part of South America discovered cocoa beans and started plantations thousands of years ago. Beans were taken from the Thebroma cacao, a tree that only grows in rain and tropical forests. They were crushed and then mixed with spices in hot water to make a bitter drink.

  • The word chocolate is said to come from the Mayan word xocoatl and the Aztec word cacahautl, which mean bitter water. But the origin could also lie in the native Mexican words choco (foam) and atl (water).

  • Aztecs and Mayans believed chocolate passed on knowledge and power to those who consumed it.

  • Chocolate is made up of about 300 chemicals, many of which are thought to have mood-altering effects — chemicals such as caffeine (energy-boosting properties), theobromine (stimulates the heart and nervous system) and phenyethylamine (an amphetamine-like substance). But none of these chemicals exists in any substantial amount.

  • There’s no proof chocolate is addictive. A University of Pennsylvania study found cravings may not lie in chemistry, but in the melt-in-your-mouth texture of chocolate.

  • Researchers say chocolate may help people live longer. Possibly because chocolate contains antioxidants — believed to prevent the oxidation of cholesterol that clogs arteries and leads to heart disease.

  • Chocolate trivia. Mozart mentioned chocolate in his opera Cosi fan tutte; its first major film role was in 1933’s Dinner at Eight starring Jean Harlow; one of the most famous books with chocolate in its title is Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which was made into a movie with Gene Wilder; and the movie Chocolat, from the book of the same name, was nominated in 2001 for an Academy Award for best picture.

    Source: The CBC News Web site http://www.cbc.ca/news/indepth/chocolate/

    — Canadian Press

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