Chocolate Candy
Perhaps the most delicious creation in the history of the world is the humble chocolate candy. Chocolate has held a powerful sway over most of humanity since its European roots in the 16th century. Though chocolate cake was the first popular way to eat chocolate, chocolate candy rapidly won a place in the hearts and on the tongues of people around the world. The history of chocolate candy is tied directly to the history of chocolate - which does indeed, as most people wish, grow on trees.
Chocolate, such as that used in the creation of chocolate candy, is made from the cacao tree, which produces the cocoa bean. There are three different types of cacao trees that thrive only within 20 degrees of the equator (approximately 600 miles north or south): they are the crillio bean, the forastero bean and the trinitario bean. Cacao trees must grow in a stable climate of heat, humidity, rainfall, damp soil and heavy shade. Temperatures below 68 degrees and rainfall of less than 70 to 90 inches annually are devastating to the cacao tree. There are no cacao trees grown in the mainland United States; however, the Hawaiian Chocolate Company produces some delectable chocolate candy from the fruits of the cacao trees they have been cultivating on the island for ten years.
The earliest connotations of chocolate were that of an aphrodisiac: a substance thought to increase sexual pleasure and responsiveness. The Conquistadores mistakenly believed the Aztecs, who used chocolate as medicine, had incorporated the substance into their pagan ways as part of some sexual rituals. Chocolate’s reputation as a love-enhancement device flourished in 18th century France, where some of history’s greatest lovers and historical figures sang the praises of chocolate in their conquests. Casanova used chocolate as a means of seduction, and the Marquis de Sade expounded on the erotic qualities of chocolate in his many writings. Today there is scant scientific evidence that chocolate possesses aphrodisiacal qualities; however, chocolate candy is the favored gift between lovers on Valentine’s Day in most of the world.
