MONTEZUMA, SOCRETES, CASANOVA, Queen Isabella, Dominican Friars, Louis XIV, Madame Pompadour, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Queen Victoria, Rodolphe Lindt, General Eisenhower, Niel Armstrong — what do these people have in common? They all LOVED chocolate.

Few foods evoke as much passion as chocolate. Myriad historical references to folklore and history from many cultures claim consuming chocolate instills faith, improves health, builds strength, and fuels sexual passion. Once an indulgence of royalty, chocolate is now a treasured and accessible – and yes, even healthy – treat.

Left & center: chocolate confecton, cacao beans (both WebMD Dark Chocolate slideshow). Right: dark chocolate bars, Season's Harvest

History of Chocolate
The Greeks called it “theobroma” or “food of the Gods, naming it from the seeds from the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. The Maya, who have used it for more than 3000 years, called it “xocolati, or bitter water, a name which suggests they made a drink of it. (Sugar was unknown in the MesoAmerican cultures.) The Aztecs believed their god, Quetzalcoatl, descended from heaven carrying a cocoa tree. Both Amazon cultures believed chocolate to be a source of wisdom and vitality, reserving it’s use for noblemen, priests, and warriors. Records dating to 1200 AD (and before) show cocoa beans were used also as a form of currency. Making use of its many qualities, the Emperor Montezuma purportedly drank 50 (golden) goblets of chocolate a day, which would have made him wealthy and wise and a very busy boy, especially when it came to the ladies. Chocolate has long been valued for its aphrodisiac qualities. This attribute was later enjoyed by many, including the famous philanderer Casanova as well as multitudes of aspiring lovers today who celebrate Valentine’s Day (the day of

Chris Columbuus, and to a greater extent, the Spanish priests, brought the heady stuff to Europe, the first major shipment of it arriving in Spain in 1585. As it was in the new world, it soon became a substance reserved for nobility. The kings and their kinsmen (and ladies) knew a good thing when they saw it, and saw no need to share it with the common folk. (For several humorous anecdotes of chocolate’s arrival in Spain, including mistaking it for sheep dung and Catholic condemnation of the drink, check here.

Except, where the Colombian cultures consumed it with vanilla, chile pepper, and achiote, the Europeans preferred milk and sugar and made sweet drinks out of it. Both groups enjoyed the somewhat psychotic benefits of fermenting it, however. Perhaps the term “chocoholic’ (defined by Webster as a chocolate addict) dates back to the Mayans? Although Montezuma and his buddies knew it to be an aphrodisiac, chocolate’s rep really grew when the French got a hold of it. Madame de Pompadour gave it a go, but became discouraged when it failed to stimulate the amorous interest of Louis XVI, but her contemporary Madame du Barry, a nymphomaniac, found it quite handy. Chocolate is, after all, reputed to increase vitality. You might call it a 16th century Viagra? At the very least, its proponents could have been called “chocoholic,” an actual term for a chocolate addict as defined by Webster.

They could also have been called fat, for chocolate addicts were well on their way to that dubious destination. By the 1800s, chocolate was an expensive European confection and import, a sign of wealth and distinction as it evolved into deserts and candies, which had less cocoa and more sugar. And fat. The scales started to tip. In the wrong direction. The Swiss, and later the Belgians, took the lead in chocolate production. The English soon got into the game, developing the first modern chocolate bar (Joseph fry, 1847) then the Cadbury brothers two years later. In 1874, Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle added condensed milk and made a popular, creamy milk chocolate drink, one still marketed today. In 1879 another Swiss, Randolphe Lindt, figured out how to make soft chocolate by adding triglycerides in the form of cocoa butter. In the early 1900s, Frank Mars and his family invented the Snickers, Milky Way, Three Musketeers, and Mar’s Bars. In 1913 Jules Sechaud of Montereux Switzerland introduced filled chocolates. During the Spanish Civil War, observing soldiers eating sugar-coated chocolate, his son was inspired to invent M&Ms. Chocolate soon became a ration for all soldiers, even those going into space. It has been in recent years by the astronauts.