Chocolate: Difference between revisions

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Plant Medicine, Excitantia, Caffeine plant

Chocolate

Theobroma cacao

Chocolate is the fermented seed of Theobroma cacao (genus name = "food of the gods," Linnaeus's coinage). First cultivated by the Olmecs (~1500 BCE) and central to Mesoamerican cosmology, Aztec yollotl-eztli ("heart-blood") was its poetic name. Drunk frothed and bitter, often as a soldier's ration before battle. Brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century and slowly tamed with sugar.

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References

Pharmacy

Preparations

Fermented and roasted seeds, ground. Mexican tradition: drunk with chili, cornmeal, achiote. European tradition: with sugar and milk

Common uses

Classification(s)

Classes

Plant Medicine, Excitantia, Caffeine plant

Pharmacology

Routes

Oral

Purported mechanism

Primary alkaloid is theobromine (3,7-dimethylxanthine), with minor caffeine. Also contains phenethylamine, anandamide (an endogenous cannabinoid), tryptophan (serotonin precursor), and flavanols. The combined effect is mild stimulation + mood elevation.

“Pendell's corner

That the poets drank chocolate is clear. Foamy chocolate. Flowery chocolate. So they could share flowery songs, dream-stirring songs.

— Dale Pendell, Pharmako/Dynamis, p. 245

@@ Line 7: / Line 7: @@
 | routes = Oral
 | mechanism = Primary alkaloid is theobromine (3,7-dimethylxanthine), with minor caffeine. Also contains phenethylamine, anandamide (an endogenous cannabinoid), tryptophan (serotonin precursor), and flavanols. The combined effect is mild stimulation + mood elevation.
-| intro = Chocolate is the fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' (genus name = "food of the gods," Linnaeus's coinage). First cultivated by the Olmecs (~1500 BCE) and central to Mesoamerican cosmology — Aztec ''yollotl-eztli'' ("heart-blood") was its poetic name. Drunk frothed and bitter, often as a soldier's ration before battle. Brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century and slowly tamed with sugar.
+| intro = Chocolate is the fermented seed of ''Theobroma cacao'' (genus name = "food of the gods," Linnaeus's coinage). First cultivated by the Olmecs (~1500 BCE) and central to Mesoamerican cosmology, Aztec ''yollotl-eztli'' ("heart-blood") was its poetic name. Drunk frothed and bitter, often as a soldier's ration before battle. Brought to Europe by the Spanish in the 16th century and slowly tamed with sugar.
 | seealso = [[Coffee]], [[Tea]], [[Caffeine]]
 | references = <references/>
@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 {{PendellsCorner
-| quote  = Cacao was the ''food of the gods'' &mdash; ''theobroma'' &mdash; before it was a confection. The Aztec drink was bitter, peppered, sacred; the Spanish added sugar and the world we have was inevitable. The molecule named for the tree is theobromine; the molecule the body makes in answer is anandamide; what comes through is something neither pure-pharmacology nor pure-folklore can quite explain.
+| quote  = That the poets drank chocolate is clear. Foamy chocolate. Flowery chocolate. So they could share flowery songs, dream-stirring songs.
 | volume = Dynamis
-| voice  = curated paraphrase &mdash; replace with verbatim passage
+| page   = 245
 }}
 [[Category:Caffeine plants]]
 [[Category:Medicines]]