Put down that cheap box of chocolates...and read this before buying your sweetie some sweets.
Chocolate is a staple of Valentine's Day, and for good reason. It's a sinfully sweet treat, of course, but chocolate also contains flavonoids, a type of antioxidant that has been shown to have health benefits for the very target of Cupid's arrow – the heart. However, not all chocolate products are created equal: They can vary wildly in flavonoid content, fat and calories, and quality of ingredients. So how can you be sure you're expressing your love with the healthiest chocolate option? According to dietitian Gloria Tsang, author of the new book Go UnDiet: 50 Small Actions for Lasting Weight Loss and founder of nutrition network HealthCastle.com, many products you might find in the chocolates section of your grocery store or gift shop have…
It's a Valentine's Day staple and a treat every day of the year, but how long has chocolate been around?
- VALENTINE'S DAY GUIDE
- Ryan Smith
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Wednesday, February 8, 2012
It's a Valentine's Day tradition and a treat every day of the year, but where does chocolate come from? How long has it been around? Who thought to put it in bar form, and is it too late to award him the Nobel Prize? Well, chocolate originated in the Americas, and according to Wikipedia, there's evidence of chocolate consumption in Mesoamerican cultures as early as 1900 BCE. Mayans, Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures cultivated the cacao tree, from which chocolate is derived, and even used cacao beans as currency. But Mesoamerican peoples didn't eat chocolate as a dessert; they mixed it with water to make a drink -- and a rather bitter drink, at that. In fact, the word chocolate comes from the Nahuatl word xocolātl, which means "bitter…
West Pointers practice chemical engineering through chocolate.
