It being Valentine’s day- I thought I’d do a little research on a wonderful substance we use in our food and drinks, and which is associated with love.
Can you guess what it is?
No, it’s not what’s in those horrible red candy hearts, that many kids like (but which I never could stand).
It’s “the food of the gods”… chocolate.
Chocolate is made from the cacao bean, which was first cultivated by the mother culture of the Native Americans – the Olmecs.This ancient civilization centered in the area that is now the Mexican province of Veracruz.
The Olmecs, and other native nations such as the Mayans, Toltecs, and Aztecs did not eat chocolate bars like we do today.
Instead, they ground up the cacao beans into a course paste and mixed this with spices, water and chilli to create a variety of hot and cold drinks. Or they combined the cacao with corn and flavorings to make an assortment of porridge like meals. They also incorporated cacao into sauces to accompany meat dishes.
These foods and spicy chocolate drinks might not suit the taste buds of many contemporary chocolate aficionados. However they were packed with nutrients and antioxidants and definitely health enhancing.
Cacao flowers were also used in perfumed baths in Aztec times, and thought to cure fatigue. The Aztec prized cacao so much that they used it as a form of currency.
Today, cacao continues to be incorporated into many recipes of Mexican cuisine. One of the most popular dishes is chicken mole, which has a tasty sauce of cacao, nuts, different varieties of chilli peppers, onions, garlic and other spices.
So how about munching on some good quality chocolate, or warming up some hot cacao to celebrate with your friends and loved ones. And why not “kick it up a notch” by adding a dash of chilli to the mix! That’s what I will be doing.
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