Chocolate Monkey

Today i called my partner a chocolate monkey and that's what has inspired today's post. Chocolate is known for its delicious taste and feel good loveliness so i'd like to take a moment to talk about chocolates qualities. The goodness is really in the Cacao (pronounced co-cow), most of you will know a modified version called cocoa or coco (short for chocolate) which usually has a proportion of the cacoa bean and other things mixed in to make it less bitter. Cacao beans look a little like a coffee bean and when ground become cocoa powder (notice the slight name change there).

So what makes cacao so good? Well let me share with you some delicious details. Cacao is partly made up of flavonoids which act as an antioxidant (there are many different types of antioxidants). Antioxidants counteract damaged cells which can lead to diseases like cancer and heart disease. Another amazing quality is that cacao also affects your mood; it contains phenylethylamines which sort of arouse you happy hormones and put you in a brilliant state of bliss. Talking of arousing, cacao also can stimulate your sex hormones. Don't you just love the gifts that nature gives us. The darker the chocolate the more of these amazing things it contains. In fact those of you who are brave enough to eat 100% cocoa (powder) or cacao (bean/nibs) will be in happy land for a pleasant amount of time. Do beware of commercial chocolate though, which can have a minimal amount of cacao/cocoa in it and instead is loaded full of sugar or other additives (which definitely aren't good for you). If your wondering about the effect of refined sugar i will post something about that soon. If your near Edinburgh Scotland don't forget to pay a wee visit to our local chocolateers The Chocolate Tree...Peace and happy feelings.

Chocolate Tree Website