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All About Chocolate:  Eating Chocolate







The Lure and Lore of Chocolate

The Romance of Chocolate
Throughout chocolate’s long history, people believed it was a powerful aphrodisiac. The Aztecs took advantage of chocolate’s purported love-inducing properties, and their Spanish conquerors carried this belief about eating chocolate to Europe.

In recent years, scientists have tried to figure out whether eating chocolate can truly inspire passion and increase romantic performance.

Legend says chocolate is a powerful love potion.
History is full of stories about people who put chocolate’s reputation to the test.

Montezuma supposedly drank 50 cups of chocolate a day. And as if that weren’t enough, he downed an additional cup to increase his stamina before consorting with his female companions.

Casanova, reportedly the greatest lover who ever lived, was said to have drunk chocolate daily to increase his amorous energy. Supposedly he preferred it over champagne as an aphrodisiac.

The Marquis de Sade, an author and the inspiration for the term “sadistic,” had his wife send him chocolate in prison. He was even rumored to have thrown a hedonistic party where he served guests chocolate laced with cantharsis (a Spanish fly also believed to induce lust).

St. Valentine’s Day supported the tradition of sending chocolates to the one you love—the idea being that the candy’s mysterious properties would seduce your beloved’s heart and cause him or her to return your feelings.

Continue to Science says it’s all in your head


Chocolate Exhibition
All About Chocolate
Growing Chocolate
History of Chocolate
Eating Chocolate
Making Chocolate
Chocolate Challenge
Books, Films, Resources
Just For Kids
Educators' Resources
Planning Your Visit
Events and Programs
Chocolate Tour





“Twill make old women young and fresh,
Create new motions of the flesh.
And cause them long for you know what,
If they but taste of chocolate.”

James Wadsworth, 1768-1844, A History of the Nature and Quality of Chocolate.




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