White
Black
With nuts
or with almonds.
Those are the types of chocolates we often look for when we crave for it. Sometimes we choose what our taste buds crave for. But did you even really know why and when did it exist? And the most applicable question to it is that why do we feel powerful or excited when we eat chocolates?
Let us look first and study history.
The invention of chocolates dated way back years ago. Where there are abundant cacao trees growing in the wild.
The first people to use chocolate were probably the Olmec of what is today southeast Mexico. They lived in the area around 1000 BC, and their word, “kakawa,” gave us our word “cacao.”
The seed is grinded in perfection.
It will become a powder and the powder is mixed wit hot water that those Olmec people used to drink in the morning.
In 1502, Columbus and his son, Ferdinand, were in the area, doing the usual conquering and such, when they came across a dugout canoe laden with supplies.
They promptly captured it and ordered the natives to carry the loot on board their ship. In the process, somebody spilled some cacao, and the natives ran for the beans “as if an eye had fallen from their heads,” according to Ferdinand.
Columbus could have been known as the first white guy to “discover” chocolate, but he blew his chance to make chocolate history by forgetting all about the incident.
The first recipe for cacao is published in Spain; it includes chiles, ear flower, cinnamon, almonds or hazelnuts, sugar and annatto seeds, boiled together and frothed with a molinillo.
Other recipes use cloves and vanilla. In London, in November, Samuel Pepys notes in his diary that he had been to a coffee house to drink Jocolatte and that it was very good.
Eating solid chocolate is introduced in the form of pastilles. One reference states that in 1674 the English propose solid “fingers of chocolate in the Spanish fashion” intended for eating.
The phrase indicates that such products may already have been available in Spain.¹ Chocolate pastry is first served in coffee houses in the U.K.
Milton Hershey creates a model factory town town called Hersheyville dedicated to the production of chocolate. The specialty is the Hershey Kiss. Around 1900, the price of cacao and sugar drop tremendously, making chocolate affordable for the middle classes.
While there are other things happened with the invention of chocolates from way back B.C to the present, the process to which chocolates has been produced today evolved.
Going back to my question, how do you think chocolates boosts or excites our minds?
Those sweet desires are not just imagined. Now, researchers have found that eating chocolate, the number one food craved by women, causes the brain to release endorphins, chemicals that make us feel good.
Other researchers have also said chocolate contains substances that might mimic the effects of marijuana, boosting the pleasure you get from eating the stuff.
The ingredients might make the texture, smell and flavor of chocolate more enjoyable and combine with other ingredients like caffeine to make a person feel good.
Piomelli found that chocolate contains anandamide, which is also produced naturally in the brain and which activates the same target that marijuana does.
He also found two chocolate ingredients that inhibit the natural breakdown of anandamide, which could lead to heightened levels of anandamide in the brain.
Other researchers believe chocolate cravings have something to do with serotonin, a brain chemical that makes us feel relaxed.
In addition to marijuana like substances, chocolate also contains tryptophan, an essential amino acid, which plays a role in the production of the neurotransmitter serotonin.
Serotonin is a calming neurotransmitter that makes people feel relaxed and satisfied and is essential for a well-balanced mood. Many people eat chocolate to relieve anxiety, but is unlikely that tryptophan is solely responsible for chocolate cravings or a chocolate addiction because it can be obtained from other food sources, such as carbohydrates, as well.
Psychological associations with chocolate are influenced by a multitude of things, including hormonal and cultural influences. Women's bodies scream for chocolate when premenstrual food cravings surface once a month. Many researchers argue that women crave chocolate prior to menstruation because it contains high levels of magnesium. Women experience magnesium deficiency prior to menstruation. However, many other non-craved foods also contain high levels of magnesium.
Research investing both the physiological and psychological basis of chocolate cravings is pretty inconclusive. It is most likely a combination of both. If chocolate cravings were entirely physiological people would not eat chocolate for psychological reasons.
Most researchers believe chocolate's sensory qualities, chemicals, cultural values, social values and hormonal influences all play a role in chocolate cravings. It is the complete chocolate bar that people crave. Not one single chemical or quality can be solely responsible for satisfying a chocolate craving.
While there are so many reasons while chocolates excite us or boost or cravings, both mentally and physically, it can be indicated that these chocolates took part of our lives today. Satisfaction, Flavors, an personal taste leads consumer to still patronize these chocolates.
Chocolates are drug-like substances that sometimes drive us crazy.
- please vote- thanks.
