Herbs & Herbal Remedies @ Green Papaya

Yes! It’s Good for You!

Family: Sterculiaceae; (includes Kola)

Genus and Species: Theobroma Cacao

Also known as: Chocolate, cacao

Parts used: Seed (often called bean)

Just a few years ago a burst of publicity surrounded a report suggesting that eating chocolate causes the release of brain chemicals responsible for the feeling of being in love.

Researchers theorized this is why the broken-hearted sometimes seek solace in a box of chocolates.

Though this research is yet to be confirmed, there is still reason for chocoholics to rejoice! Your favorite vice may be just what the doctor ordered. Cocoa and its derivative, chocolate, may aid digestion, boost blood flow to the heart. and help anyone with chest congestion breathe easier. Unwrap a chocolate kiss and read on.

Aztec Treat

Imagine a world without chocolate. That would be a desolate world indeed. But that’s how it was until 1519, when Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez saw Mexico’s Aztec ruler, Montezuma, sip a drink called chocolatl from a golden goblet. Cortez was more interested in the goblet than its contents until the Aztecs informed him the drink was made from beans so valuable that 100 could buy a healthy human slave.

Cortez introduced the Aztec treat to the Spanish court, where it became an instant sensation. The Spanish tried to keep chocolate a secret and succeeded for more than 100 years, but by the 1660s it had spread throughout Europe. Chocolate became especially popular in England and Holland, where the bitter drink was enriched and sweetened with milk and sugar.

Oddly, until the 19th century, chocolate was solely a beverage, sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, but always a liquid. It was only about 150 years ago that it was fashioned into the blocks and candies we so love today.

“Very Useful for Invalids”

Central Americans have used cocoa for centuries to treat fever, coughs, and complaints of pregnancy and childbirth. They have also rubbed cocoa butter on burns, chapped lips, balding heads, and the sore nipples of nursing mothers.

America’s 19th-century Eclectics recommended cocoa butter externally as a wound dressing and salve. For internal use, they prescribed hot cocoa forasthma. as a substitute for coffee, and as “a very useful nutritive for invalids and persons convalescing from acute illness.”

Few contemporary herbalists recommended cocoa or chocolate as a healing herb. It’s their loss.

Devil’s Food?

Chocolate cake is called “devil’s food.” And no wonder. The product of this herb has long been villified as a cause of obesity, acne, heart disease, kidney stones, tooth decay, headaches, heartburn, and infant colic. Much of this reputation is undeserved.

Chocolates fat content may contribute to obesity and heart disease, but the chocolate used in confections is rarely as much of a problem as their high-fat. high-cholesterol butter and cream. Cocoa and chocolate contain no cholesterol (excerpt milk chocolate, whose dairy ingredients contain a small amount). However, they are high in saturated fat, the kind of fat that can raise cholesterol levels and contributes to heart disease. But a good deal of cocoa’s saturated fat is in the form of stearic acid, which does not raise cholesterol. For the record, here’s how the various kinds of chocolate stack up.

Bad Rumors

Chocolate’s contribution to tooth decay has been blown out of proportion. Some research even suggests that cocoa contains substances that inhibit the growth of bacteria that cause tooth decay. Again the problem with chocolate candy is not its cocoa content but rather the other sugary, gooey ingredients.

There is no evidence that chocolate causes acne, kidney stones, or infant colic. However, chocolate does contain chemicals (tyramines) that trigger headaches in some pee ple, particularly those prone to migraines.