around the table
Mexican Drinking Chocolate
sweet Seduction
Chocolate “If there’s no chocolate in Heaven, I’m not going.” —Jane Seabrook, “Furry Logic Laugh at Life” Photos by Richard gillard and Michael coons
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infully sweet and so indulgent. And now we’re hearing reports that chocolate (specifically dark chocolate) can actually be good for you. Its main ingredient, at least, has landed on the list of foods with positive health benefits. Cocoa, from a plant grown in equatorial regions, is full of antioxidant flavonoids—naturally occurring molecules and compounds that protect many plants from dangerous wounds, pests, disease and self-destructive cells. Those flavonoids are good for people too, reducing the risks of cancer, high cholesterol and strokes all while encouraging a healthy heart. Before Milton Hershey, John Cadbury and Henri Nestle had their way with it, chocolate was not so deliciously sweet. According to Aztec legend, the cacao plant was first brewed into a frothy, spicy divine drink of Mesoamerican gods in ancient Central America. Quetzalcoatl, the god of delight who loved his people as much as his chocolate, believed that everyone should be able to enjoy cocoa. Risking everything, he stole the cacao plants from the other gods, brought them to earth and taught the Toltecs to harvest the pods so that they, too, could enjoy the aphrodisiacal drink, which they called xocolatl. Once chocolate hit Europe in the 17th century, people got creative with it, grinding the cocoa into powder, molding chocolate bars and adding sugar and butter to make the creamy confections we all know and love today. —Allison Montroy
20 beyond The Acorn.com | Fall 2015