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The True History of Chocolate Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe See book keywords and concepts

Robert, comprising 1 to 2 percent by weight of the cacao, are known to have physiological effects on humans, although perhaps not precisely the ones he mentions. These are the alkaloids (or, more technically, methylxanthines) caffeine and theobromine. What are alkaloids? They are plant products, complex organic compounds that occur in perhaps 10 percent of the world's plants, although exactly what evolutionary benefits the plants get from them is not clear. Alkaloids form salts when treated with acids, and they have physiological consequences on the animals that ingest them.

In fact, the literature about the actual composition of cacao reminds us of nothing so much as the tale of the blind men describing the elephant. Psychologists tend to dismiss the possibility that any one of the myriad chemical compounds that constitute chocolate, or any combination of them, could have a physical effect on the consumer. Instead, they point to learned factors, how for many of us, sweets in general and chocolate in particular have been used as rewards from earliest childhood: "Eat your vegetables, dear, there's chocolate cake for dessert.

But more importantly, the reader will find that there is now a wealth of new information on the earliest use of cacao among the ancient Maya and their distant predecessors, thanks to the scientific marriage of archaeology with modern chemical techniques. Chocolate has turned out to be far, far older than we had ever thought. And we now also realize that the royal or noble occupant of every Maya tomb went to the other world accompanied by Mesoamerica's most valued drink.

These animals cannot be seeking the beans, which are made bitter by alkaloids, but the delicious pulp, which is probably what attracted humans to T. cacao in the first place. The pods take some four to five months to reach full size, and then another month to ripen completely. Even though flowers are fertilized and pods ripen throughout the year, there are usually two major harvests, as the pods will keep on the trunk of the tree for several weeks, and as harvested pods for another week. However, modern techniques now allow for continuous harvests.

The New Whole Foods Encyclopedia: A Comprehensive Resource for Healthy Eating Rebecca Wood See book keywords and concepts

CHOCOLATE cacao, Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) Chocolate, native to tropical and Central America, was called "xocoatl" by the Maya and Aztecs, which means a bitter drink. It was a favorite beverage for the priests and royalty. The Swedish botanist Linnaeus tagged it "theobroma," meaning, in Greek, food of the gods—few would disagree. cacao beans were so valued that in Mexico they were used as standard currency as late as 1887. The cacao tree is a tropical plant; its fruit pods look like small red or gold footballs. Each pod holds from 20 to 70 white beans about the size and shape of almonds.

PDR for Herbal Medicines Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

Mode of Administration: Cocoa Butter is used as a pharmaceutical base for suppositories and vaginal globules. It is an additive for ointments and cosmetic preparations, such as skin creams and lip balms. Storage: Store in a cool, dark place. literature cacao semen Naturw R, 49:481. 1996. Schroder B, In: Schroder R, Kaffee, Tee und Kardamom, Ulmer-Verlag, Stuttgart. 1991. Further information in: Hansel R, Keller K, Rimpler H, Schneider G (Hrsg.), Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5. Aufl., Bde 4-6 (Drogen): Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1992-1994.

The Science of Flavonoids Erich Grotewold See book keywords and concepts

Liquid chromatographic/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric study of the phenolic composition of cocoa (Theobroma cacao), J Mass Spectrom 38: 35-42. Self, R., Eagels, J., Galletti, G. C, Mueller-Harvey, I., Hartley, R. D., Lea, A. G. H., Magnolato, D., Richli, U., Gajer, R. and Haslam, E., 1986, Fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry of polyphenols (syn. vegetable tannins), Biomed Environ Mass Spectrom 13: 449-468. Sfakiaos, J., Coward, L., Kirk, M. C. and Barnes, S., 1997, Intestinal uptake and biliary excretion of the isoflavone genistein in rats, JNutr 127: 1260-1269.

PDR for Herbal Medicines Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

Purine alkaloids: main alkaloid theobromine (0.4-1.2%) with less caffeine (0.02%) Fat (5%) Biogenic amine: including phenyl ethyl amine, tyramine, tryptamine, serotonin Catechin tannins Proanthocyanidins effects: cacao testes Cocoa can cause constipation. Cocoa contains methylxanthines, which have a diuretic, bronchyolitic, and vasodilatory effect. They also improve cardiac muscle performance and act as a muscle relaxant.

Safe Trip to Eden: Ten Steps to Save Planet Earth from the Global Warming Meltdown David Steinman See book keywords and concepts

Here, the farm was part of the terrain and rolled over hills, and vanilla, cacao, and sarsaparilla vines commingled on the trunks of big trees. In addition, the local people who worked there were well paid. Says Newmark, "Our workers are in fact well paid with outstanding employee benefits: medical insurance, a pension, three weeks paid vacation, a bonus equal to a month's wages, and the ability to grow food on our farm for the benefit of their families. It's a sustainable farm not just for the land, but for all species, including human.

There Is a Cure for Diabetes: The Tree of Life 21-Day+ Program Gabriel Cousens See book keywords and concepts

All vegetables: carrots (raw), beets (raw), squash (raw) Fruits: low-glycemic fruits-blueberries, raspberries, cherries, fresh and unsweetened cranberries, pomegranate, goji berries, grapefruit, lemons, limes Condiments and sweeteners: mesquite, cacao, carob Bee pollen granules Grains: quinoa, buckwheat, millet, amaranth, spelt Fermented and cultured foods: apple cider vinegar, miso (non-soy), sauerkraut, probiotic drinks Notes: Phase 1: no grains, not sweet or fermented Phase 1.5: grains stored less than 90 days, low-sweet fruits, and fermented food Phase 1.

Interview with David Wolfe on raw foods, the bird flu and herbal healing Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

We want to make sure we have superfoods in our diet like bee products and spirullina and blue-green algae, and things like the cacao bean, which is the raw chocolate nut, and the goji berry and maca and these kinds of foods. We can have other foods, too, but we just want to make sure that we're not missing anything. When we really get down to what knocks out the bird flu, we have to focus on traditionally what has worked. That would be herbs, and that is where I want to take us now.

Foods that Fight Cancer Richard Beliveau, Ph.D. and Denis Gingras, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

CHAPTER 16 Chocolate: A Healthy Obsession Probably originally from the Amazon and Orenoque basins, the cacao tree was in all likelihood first domesticated by the Mayas, who cultivated it at least three thousand years ago in the Yucatan region of Mexico. The Mayas and their successors, the Toltecs and especially the Aztecs, attached great importance to the beans harvested from this tree, which they used both as legal currency and in the preparation of a bitter spiced drink, xocoatl.

The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants Andrew Chevallier See book keywords and concepts

Medicinal Actions & Uses Although cacao is most often used as a food, it also has therapeutic value as a nervous system stimulant. In Central America and the Caribbean, the seeds are taken as a heart and kidney tonic. The plant may be used to treat angina and as a diuretic. cacao butter makes a good lip salve, and is often used as a base for suppositories. Research In 1994, Argentinian researchers showed that cacao extracts counter the bacteria responsible for boils and septicemia. Thuja occidentalis ( Cupressaceae) Arbor vitae Description Evergreen tree growing to 30 ft (10 m).

Revealed: The best new raw food bars Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Smart Monkey Foods has come up with some really creative raw foods recipes and managed to launch a whole series of enticing flavors like Ginger Snap and cacao Cookie. Who can resist? The company, its bars and logo are also memorable. Who can forget the words, "Smart Monkey?" Plus, it's accurate: The healthy oils from the nuts and seeds in these bars really do help build healthy brain function and nervous systems. Some of the flavors from Smart Monkey simply can't be found anywhere else. The Sesame Snap and Ginger Snap flavors, for example, are truly unique.

Amazon Herb Company earns top recommendation: Top distributors and products listed Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

Some people absolutely love the Chocamaca (bite-sized chocolate balls, made with real cacao from the Amazon), and with all the incredible health research on chocolate emerging these days, it's no wonder. See the NewsTarget chocolate page to learn more. I don't personally eat the Chocamaca product because it's made with evaporated cane juice, which is just a bit too high on the glycemic scale for my personal taste. But if you're craving chocolate, these Chocamaca balls sure beat the typical "plastic chocolate" candy bars at the grocery store.

Interview with David Wolfe on raw foods, the bird flu and herbal healing Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

We want to make sure we have superfoods in our diet like bee products and spirullina and blue-green algae, and things like the cacao bean, which is the raw chocolate nut, and the goji berry and maca and these kinds of foods. We can have other foods, too, but we just want to make sure that we're not missing anything. When we really get down to what knocks out the bird flu, we have to focus on traditionally what has worked. That would be herbs, and that is where I want to take us now.

Foods that Fight Cancer Richard Beliveau, Ph.D. and Denis Gingras, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

Just like the proanthocyanidins present in cranberries (Chapter 1 1), the proanthocyanidins in cacao may contribute to the prevention of cancer by acting on the multiple events involved in the progression of this disease. Further studies are needed to establish chocolate's anti-cancer potential with greater certainty, but current findings are very positive and certainly do not justify the bad reputation that chocolate has acquired over the last few decades.

For the Aztecs, the cacahuaquahuilt, or cacao tree, was a gift from Quetzalcoatl, the god represented by a feathered serpent who, according to legend, was to return one day, recovering his kingdom and bringing the Aztecs all the treasure of Paradise. When Hernan Cortes (1485-1547) landed on the Mexican coast, near present-day Tabasco, in April 1519, the Aztec emperor Montezuma II was convinced that the Spaniard was the descendant of Quetzalcoatl. The explorer was greeted as a god; he was offered gold, plantations . . . and chocolate, drunk from a goblet of incrusted gold.

Better than the Flat Tax, the Flax Tax saves our economy and our health! (satire) Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

It's been done before: ancient civilizations in South and Central America actually used cacao (real chocolate) as a form of currency. (Wow, you could actually EAT your savings account and feel good about it!) Flax currency is actually worth something! Our modern system of currency is worthless anyway. Those silly pieces of green paper with Presidents' pictures on them... you think that money stands for anything? The gold standard was dropped decades ago. U.S. currency is only worth the willingness and ability of the U.S. government to back it up, and the U.S.

Interview with David Wolfe on raw foods, the bird flu and herbal healing Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

We're really into distributing superfoods, which are things like spirulina and blue-green algae, and chlorella and bee products, like pollen and honey, maca from the highlands of the Andes Mountains and goji berries, the cacao bean -- which is the chocolate -- which is what all chocolate is made out of. These foods are extraordinarily nutritious and very fun to eat. It's just a joy to be able to get those into people's hands and heart, to get them to experience that.

Foods that Fight Cancer Richard Beliveau, Ph.D. and Denis Gingras, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

THE BENEFICIAL EFFECTS OF CHOCOLATE In its New World beginnings, chocolate was favoured as a food that relieved the effects of THE MANUFACTURE OF CHOCOLATE After a short fermentation period, cacao beans are dried and roasted at a high temperature to develop their flavour and aroma. The beans are then broken into pieces to remove their shells, and ground until a thick liquid that solidifies at room temperature, the cocoa mass, is obtained. This substance may be used as is in the preparation of chocolate, or it can be pressed to extract a large part of its fat content, the cocoa butter.

Proanthocyanidins, the polymers, or long chains formed by these molecules (see page 141), make up between 12 and 48% of the weight of the cacao bean. Proanthocyanidins are renowned as powerful antioxidants (Chapter 1 1), so it is not surprising that chocolate possesses similar properties.

Taste inflation revealed: why sugar, salt and fragrance make you stupid Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

I've actually tasted cacao, and it's bitter! But at least we could sweeten it with stevia instead of loading it up with sugar, because most of the chocolate people are buying in this country is just a sugar bar with a hint of chocolate. It's funny that people think of chocolate as a health food, so they go out and buy chocolate candy bars, which is of course an absurd way to enhance their health. Taste inflation affects brain function What is the net result of all this taste inflation?

Interview with David Wolfe on raw foods, the bird flu and herbal healing Mike Adams, the Health Ranger See article keywords and concepts

We're really into distributing superfoods, which are things like spirulina and blue-green algae, and chlorella and bee products, like pollen and honey, maca from the highlands of the Andes Mountains and goji berries, the cacao bean -- which is the chocolate -- which is what all chocolate is made out of. These foods are extraordinarily nutritious and very fun to eat. It's just a joy to be able to get those into people's hands and heart, to get them to experience that.

PDR for Herbal Medicines Joerg Gruenwald, Ph.D. See book keywords and concepts

Hansel R, Keller K, Rimpler H, Schneider G (Hrsg.), Hagers Handbuch der Pharmazeutischen Praxis, 5. Aufl., Bde 4-6 (Drogen): Springer Verlag Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, 1992-1994. Leung AY, Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients Used in Food Drugs and Cosmetics, John Wiley & Sons Inc., New York 1980. Steinegger E, Hansel R, Pharmakognosie, 5. Aufl., Springer Verlag Heidelberg 1992. Teuscher E, Biogene Arzneimittel, 5. Aufl., Wiss. Verlagsges. Stuttgart 1997. Not To Be Confused With: Other forms of Thuja.

The Encyclopedia of Healing Foods by Michael Murray, N.D. and Joseph Pizzorno, N.D. See book keywords and concepts

Houten patented the cocoa press, an inexpensive method for pressing the fat from roasted cacao beans. The center of the bean, the nib, contains an average of 54 percent cocoa butter. The machine van Houten developed—a hydraulic press—reduced the nib's cocoa butter content by nearly half, creating a pressed cake that could be pulverized into a fine powder known as cocoa. Van Houten, a Dutchman, treated the powder with alkaline salts (potassium or sodium carbonates), so it would mix more easily with water, a process known today as "dutching.

Most cacao beans now come from small farms in West Africa and Brazil, but the tree is also cultivated in other areas of South America close to the equator, in Mexico, the Caribbean, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, Hawaii, and the islands of Samoa and New Guinea. NUTRITIONAL HIGHLIGHTS The primary components of chocolate are sugar and fat, in roughly equal amounts. According to government standards, true chocolate must derive its fat solely from cocoa butter, unless it's milk chocolate, in which case 80 percent of the fat must be from cocoa butter and 20 percent from milk.

HOW TO SELECT AND STORE Chocolate is available in many different forms, but the FDA has a classification system based upon the percentage of key ingredients in chocolate products: • Unsweetened or baking chocolate: The most basic chocolate product, this is simply the hardened chocolate liquor made from the cacao beans' ground nibs. Also called bitter chocolate, it must contain between 50 and 58 percent cocoa butter. Baking chocolate is usually sold in 1-ounce squares.

Making matters more difficult is that only 3 to 10 percent of cacao trees mature to develop full fruit. The fruit, the source of the world's chocolate and cocoa, appears in the form of green or sometimes maroon pods on the trunk of the tree and its main branches. Shaped a bit like tiny footballs, the pods ripen to a golden color or sometimes develop a scarlet hue with multicolored flecks. The Criollo produces a soft, thin-skinned pod, with a light color and a unique, pleasant aroma.

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