I recently read that Lupercalia (the origin of Valentine’s Day as a celebration of love) lasted for several days, ending on the 14th when young men revealed their choice of sweethearts for the year. The third day of that celebration (February 9th) came to be observed by the gift of chocolate. Now, that’s a custom worth preserving!
Chocolate is no doubt the favorite form of candy worldwide and that might be because it is somewhat addictive, as it contains both serotonin and dopamine, both of which create a sense of well-being. Pure chocolate is bitter, but it tastes wonderful when combined with sweeteners and flavorings.
Chocolate is known to have been in use as a medicine and played a part in rituals of the Olmec culture in what is now Mexico. In 1502, Columbus seized a large canoe loaded with chocolate and, as did Cortez, he brought chocolate to Spain where, during the 16th and 17th centuries, it was a luxury that eventually spread to the wealthy nobles of Europe.
As a beverage, chocolate was served much like coffee, unsweetened and brewed with water for a bitter drink. The first chocolate house in America was established in Boston in 1682. To make chocolate, large cacao-tree pods are roasted, then stripped of their beans which were ground and brewed to separate the solids from the fat. The resulting chocolate liquor can then dried and ground into a powder. Today, 60% of the world’s chocolate is produced in Africa.
Americans consume 2.8 billion pounds of chocolate a year; amounting to 11 pounds of chocolate per person (half the average consumption of 22 pounds of all candy.) Historically, Valentine’s Day has long been the biggest chocolate day of the year, with Halloween having taken over the lead in recent years. The Swiss, however, consume considerably more chocolate per person than Americans. It appears that our favorite candy bar is Snickers, followed in order by Kit-Kat, Hershey’s, Twix and Reese’s. We like our chocolate lighter and sweeter than do Europeans.
Dark chocolate was introduced to the American sweet tooth during the 1760’s, developed and sold by a Dr, Baker and the brand still exists (possibly the reason it became known as baker’s or baking chocolate?) Dark chocolate has some beneficial qualities in that it contains more flavonoids than light chocolate. The processing necessary to produce milk chocolate removes most of those flavonoids which contain antioxidants. These contribute to lower blood pressure, help keep cholesterol under control, lower the risk of blood clots and boost blood flow to vital organs. While not exactly a health food, dark chocolate is the better choice if you are going to indulge in chocolate.
Chocolate has been a part of my Valentine’s Day since childhood. My dad, having a sweet-tooth himself and knowing that we would share, gave each of his “little sweethearts” a box of chocolate covered cherries. There were, I think, a dozen or more of the dark cherries covered in fondant and a thick coat of dark chocolate in each box. The box held two layers, each separated by gridworks of thin white pasteboard. When the box was freshly opened, it seemed like a wealth of sweets for each of us and we willingly shared with Dad. But as the first layer disappeared, we began to become more conservative, realizing that a half dozen pieces wouldn’t last a week, even if we rationed them out to one a day. Mother got a large heart-shaped box of assorted chocolates and generously shared her assortment of dark and light-chocolate coated wonders. She must have saved her favorites for herself, for I didn’t discover until years later that there would have been soft, creamy fillings of maple, chocolate and raspberry crème in the assortment. She saved the fancy heart-shaped boxes for storage of special greeting cards – Valentines, birthday cards, Mother’s Day cards and elaborate anniversary cards from Dad. The ribbons and silk flowers that decorated the boxes wilted and faded in time, but the sweet memories were safe inside.