Giant Microbes Plush - Chocolate

Facts: Chocolate is a delicious and stimulating topic. It is produced from the seeds of Theobroma cacao, a tropical tree that can grow up to 50 feet. Cacao was first cultivated thousands of years ago in the Amazon. The native peoples of southern Mexico figured out how to turn cacao into the earthy, fragrant and chemically complex substance we call chocolate. The tree’s name Theobroma means “food of the gods”. Ripe pods are harvested for their seeds (or beans), which are fermented, dried, roasted to remove the bitterness, and cracked to release the inner kernel, called cacao nibs. The nibs are then ground into chocolate.

Chocolate contains more than 500 flavor compounds and the two stimulants theobromine and caffeine. These are alkaloids, complex organic compounds found in only a few plants. Theobromine is found in cacao, the kola nut, camellia, and a few tea and coffee plants. It is a vasodilator, a diuretic, and offers a milder boost than caffeine. Humans easily metabolize theobromine, but it is poisonous to dogs and cats.

Chocolate does have benefits, such as making you smile. Yet its actions on the body are mostly unknown, so it’s best to keep a healthy skepticism about wide-ranging health claims. Dark chocolate has 50% or more cocoa solids and is certainly better for you than milk chocolate, which has added sugar.

For most of its long history, chocolate was drunk, not eaten. The Olmec, Mayan, and Aztec peoples turned cacao into a thick unsweetened drink. They also used the bean as currency. In the 1600s, the Spanish recognized cacao as a precious commodity and shipped it to Europe, where sweetened chocolate became a popular drink and chocolate houses sprang up as meeting places. Solid chocolate was not eaten until the 1800s when the English made the first chocolate bar. The next time you crave the gastronomical gift of chocolate, consider the wonderous journey of cacao and the science of theobromine. That is food for thought.