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   Introduction: Eating and Using ChocolateChocolate as a Cure For centuries, chocolate has been shrouded in mystery and legend. Many cultures believed that chocolate was a gift from the heavens, or that it had special healing properties. Today, many cultures still consider chocolate a potent weapon in the fight against disease and illness. Modern scientists have only recently begun to understand what, if any, medicinal powers chocolate contains. Chocolate was an ancient remedy. Maya and Aztec peoples drank chocolate not only for pleasure, but also for its perceived healing and nourishing powers. They used it to treat a host of illnesses, such as seizures, fevers, dysentery, diarrhea, and skin infections. Like most new foods, chocolate was received with mixed reactions by Europeans. Encountering chocolate for the first time in the 1600s, some believed it could induce sleep, aid digestion, purify the blood, ease childbirth pains, and enhance libidos—though others believed it could cause drunkenness or illness.  Some doctors even claimed chocolate prolonged life and cured everything from ringworm to ulcers!Modern science says that chocolate may not be all bad for you. For a long time, the medical profession assumed that traditional folk remedies using chocolate were pure wives’ tales. In fact, chocolate developed a bad reputation for causing everything from acne to tooth decay. But current research reveals the fact and fiction behind many of these beliefs. Although scientists are still trying to understand the more than 300 chemicals in chocolate, there may be some beneficial side effects to eating chocolate. Continue to Cooking Chocolate |
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