Chocolate delights

Today I made my annual Christmas visit to our local chocolate factory; it has to be my favorite part of Christmas shopping. Guinguet have been making chocolates since 1950. This visit is very high up on our client’s wish list along with visiting vineyards.

Guinguet specialize in prunes dipped in chocolate, picked and dried from their own nearby orchard, they are simply delicious. It’s really difficult to choose from the huge selection on offer, and to make it more difficult, you can sample as many chocolates as you can eat! After a very enjoyable 20 minutes I left with armfuls of lovely treats all beautifully wrapped. The French really know how to make the customers life easier.

And now for the history bit (could be useful for the pub quiz)!.The ancient Aztec and Maya civilizations were the first to recognize the potency of chocolate and used it to celebrate the harvest of the cacao beans. They brewed it into a hot, spicy drink and believed it gave them wisdom, enlightenment and sexual prowess. Only men in the ruling and religious classes were allowed to drink the chocolate.

Cocoa beans were used as currency by the Mayan and Aztec cultures. Perhaps this is where the saying "Money grows on trees" came from.

In the 16th century, the Spanish crushed the Aztec empire and took home the Aztec methods of extracting undiluted unsweetened liquor from fermented cacao beans. They sweetened the drink with honey and sugar and for years it remained a rich man’s drink. In the 17th century, chocolate became popular across Europe. It was still sold only as a drink and as it attracted high import duties, was enjoyed by the rich. In due course, chocolate drinking houses opened and these became popular meeting places. Around 1700, the English started adding milk, so making the drink less bitter.

A few useful factoids you may not know: -

* For chocolate to be lethal, a person has to consume 22lb of chocolate.

* There are no allergies caused by chocolates.

* Eating a chocolate before a meal will take the appetite away hence, it helps to keep a balance diet.

* Chocolate releases the hormone, serotonin, which makes a person feel relaxed, calm, and happy.

* Unlike the common belief, chocolate is not high in caffeine as ten chocolate bars would equate to only one cup of coffee.

* The reason why chocolate is good for humans is that cacao beans contain theobromine that helps to enlarge blood vessels, which then treats high blood pressure.

* Normally, the shelf life of a bar of chocolate is a year, but it can be put in a freezer to be kept indefinitely.

* Dark chocolate has more antioxidants than green tea, and just as many as blueberries.

* Allowing chocolate to melt in your mouth produces the same or even stronger reactions as passionately kissing.

As if you needed any convincing that a little chocolate is actually good for you!. I hope all you chocolate lovers out there enjoy your share of chocolate treats this Christmas, remember 9 out of 10 people like chocolate, the 10th person always lies!