Research Paper on Chocolate
Ukotic 1
Veronica Ukotic Professor Kathleen Forhan US 315 Transitions 13 March 2013 Irresistible Chocolate with Benefits ! Smooth. Creamy. Simply heaven! These are the thoughts that flood my mind
when I think of this once forbidden treat known as chocolate. Holding a worldwide appeal, chocolate has been a temptation to many for years. So, knowing that something this desirable is beneficial to one’s health would make a chocoholic’s day, right? Well, great news! There has been recent nutritional research studies that have proven chocolate to be beneficial to one’s health and irresistible. ! The cacao bean was founded by an ancient tribe called the Olmecs between the
time of 1200 to 300 B.C. They were a tribe that inhabited the tropical lowlands of South America and would be the first to domesticate the plant and use the beans. The Olmec tribe would be responsible also for naming these bitter seeds that held secrets to power and health (Ziegler 400). ! Along would come the Mayans and Aztecs who would also become fond of the
cacao bean. It would be used for physical and spiritual nourishment. They would treasure cacao and integrate it in their religion, as well as part of their currency. A slave would be the equivalent to 100 cacao beans (“Chocolate” 1). These first chocolatelovers would not create chocolate bars, but instead make a coarse paste where they would grind the cacao bean with spices, water and chilies to create either a hot or cold frothy beverage (Ziegler 402).
Ukotic 2
!
It would not be until the Spaniards, particularly Hernan Cortes, would arrive to the
New World in the sixteenth-century, that the once bitter taste of cacao would change forever. They would add cinnamon and sugar to the Indian drink they found to be displeasing to the palate (“Chocolate” 1). This would begin the evolution of cacao into what we know now as a little piece of heaven. ! By the time the eighteenth-century would arrive, a world wide love for the cacao
bean would form
Veronica Ukotic Professor Kathleen Forhan US 315 Transitions 13 March 2013 Irresistible Chocolate with Benefits ! Smooth. Creamy. Simply heaven! These are the thoughts that flood my mind
when I think of this once forbidden treat known as chocolate. Holding a worldwide appeal, chocolate has been a temptation to many for years. So, knowing that something this desirable is beneficial to one’s health would make a chocoholic’s day, right? Well, great news! There has been recent nutritional research studies that have proven chocolate to be beneficial to one’s health and irresistible. ! The cacao bean was founded by an ancient tribe called the Olmecs between the
time of 1200 to 300 B.C. They were a tribe that inhabited the tropical lowlands of South America and would be the first to domesticate the plant and use the beans. The Olmec tribe would be responsible also for naming these bitter seeds that held secrets to power and health (Ziegler 400). ! Along would come the Mayans and Aztecs who would also become fond of the
cacao bean. It would be used for physical and spiritual nourishment. They would treasure cacao and integrate it in their religion, as well as part of their currency. A slave would be the equivalent to 100 cacao beans (“Chocolate” 1). These first chocolatelovers would not create chocolate bars, but instead make a coarse paste where they would grind the cacao bean with spices, water and chilies to create either a hot or cold frothy beverage (Ziegler 402).
Ukotic 2
!
It would not be until the Spaniards, particularly Hernan Cortes, would arrive to the
New World in the sixteenth-century, that the once bitter taste of cacao would change forever. They would add cinnamon and sugar to the Indian drink they found to be displeasing to the palate (“Chocolate” 1). This would begin the evolution of cacao into what we know now as a little piece of heaven. ! By the time the eighteenth-century would arrive, a world wide love for the cacao
bean would form