International Chocolate Day: 24 hours of guilt-free chocolate bingeing

Chocolate acts as a staple, go-to dessert choice on almost every individual’s platter. We can only imagine how crazy it would be to have an entire day dedicated to the celebration of this coveted staple! Yes, there indeed exists such a day, and we call it International Chocolate Day.

Also called World Chocolate day, it is celebrated on 7th July every year and its origin is estimated to be about 2,000 years ago. Chocolates play an important role in our lives not only in terms of providing gustatory pleasure but also through certain health benefits.

According to researchers, chocolates were first discovered about 2,000 years ago and formally entered the market as a luxury commodity in Europe around 1550. The word ‘chocolate’ originates from the Aztec word “Xocoatl” which are technically bitter beverages that have been brewed using cocoa beans. Chocolate comes from the fruit of the Cacao tree, which was first cultivated thousands of years ago. Cocoa beans generally have a bitter taste and texture when retrieved from the tree. However upon being processed in different ways such as roasting, heating, shell removal, etc; they can be moulded to suit the flavor preferences of the public. Hence, this is how we get the bitter/sweet essence.

FROM COCOA BEANS TO LIP-SMACKING DESSERT DELIGHTS
Cocoa beans are first roasted to bring out the bittersweet texture and taste of chocolates. The roasted cocoa beans are finely ground to form cocoa liquor, which is then mixed with cocoa butter and sugar to produce the final chocolate paste. This paste is then moulded and shaped according to the preferences of each individual into bars, innovative shapes, shavings, choco balls, etc.
Along with other popular food items, chocolate also evolved with time. From milk chocolate and white chocolate to dark chocolate, today we have a range of varieties with each one of them having a mouth-watering appeal.
Chocolate has evolved with time as scientists and researchers have discovered numerous benefits of this product. Today the colloquial “chocolate flavor” acts as an umbrella term for a variety of combo flavors within it. For example chocolate caramel, chocolate hazelnut, chocolate-coffee mix, sea salt caramel chocolate, chai-latte chocolate mix, etc.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF CHOCOLATE
Contrary to the popular notion that chocolates do more harm than good, studies have proven that Chocolates indeed possess certain health benefits. Some include:

1. Helps reduce stress levels: Chocolate helps reduce stress by bringing down the level of the stress hormone ‘Cortisol’. Furthermore, chocolates release endorphins that incite feelings of euphoria and happiness in people.
2. Lowers the risk of heart diseases: Consuming dark chocolates help lower the risk of heart diseases. How does this work? Dark chocolates consist of flavonoids that help maintain one’s health levels and prevent high Blood Pressure (BP) among adults.
3. Helps in effective weight management: Contrary to popular belief that consuming chocolate sleds to an immense weight gain, consumption of dark chocolates actually helps in weight loss by curbing hunger pangs (cravings)
4. Dark chocolates are filled with antioxidants that help keep the body healthy, skin glowing, and weight management.

Although chocolates do help keep you healthy, the thumb rule says: that anything in excess will always cause more damage, regardless of how healthy it might be.

FUN FACTS!

1. The first celebration of International Chocolate Day was in 2009 and since then it has been designated as a day where people can indulge in guilt-free eating of chocolates
2. Antioxidants in dark chocolates can help reduce blood pressure (BP) and maintain cardiovascular health.
   White chocolate is NOT chocolate. Why? How? Well, white chocolate is just a mixture of sugar, vanilla, and cocoa butter and does not contain cocoa particles.
3. Chocolate is called ‘Theobroma Cacao’ in Greek, which can be roughly translated to ‘Food of the gods. Even Mexico today considers cocoa beans as the food of gods.
4. Eating chocolate releases endorphins or the ‘happy chemical’ that induces levels of happiness in one’s body!
   It takes about 400 cocoa beans to make around 500 gms of Chocolate. A cocoa pod contains 40 cocoa beans.

Written by: Shreya Raolji