 |
|
"Chocolate is the greatest discovery of bearkind" - BP |
|
 |
The Aztecs and Mayans discovered the cocoa plant.
BP
|
Actually, a Peruvian bear ancestor of mine, first discovered the cocoa plant on a
family trip in the northern Amazon basin and
introduced it to the Aztecs and Mayans. They were
eternally grateful and honored bears from that point onward.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Aztecs and Mayans created a drink from the cocoa bean and named it "Xocoatl".
BP
|
"Xocoatl" is a translation from my ancestor's language meaning "silky fur". The
Aztecs and Mayans compared their new drink to our silky-feeling fur which they loved to touch.
Drinking cocoa was (and still is) a silky experience.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cocoa beans have been used throughout history for medicinal purposes. Medicinal
usage has included treatment for:
- Fatique (Badianus Codex, 1552)
- In a mixture of cocoa, maize, and the herb tlacoxochitl: fever,
"panting of breath", and faintness of heart (Florentine Codex, 1590)
- Weight Gain
- Stimulate nervous systems of "apatheitic, exhausted or feeble patients"
- Improve digestion and elimination
- Stagnant or weak stomachs
- Poor kidneys and bowels
- Anemia
- Poor appetite
- Mental fatigue
- Poor breast milk production
- Consumption/Tuberculosis
- Fever
- Gout
- Kidney stones
- Reduced longevity
- Poor sexula appetite/low virility
Also, a mixture of cocoa bark, cocoa butter, cocoa leaves and flowers has been used to treat:
- Burns
- Bowel Dysfunction
- Cuts
- Skin irritations
Source: Food of the Gods: Cure for Humanity?
A Cultural History of the Medicinal and Ritual Use of Chocolate, Dillanger, TL;
Barriga, P; Escarcega, S. Department of Nutrition, University of California.
(J Nutr 2000 Aug; 130(8S Suppl):2057S-72S)
BP
|
Which is why bears are so healthy!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Chocolate came to Dorchester, Massachusetts in 1765 from the West Indies.
BP
|
Needless to say, it was a dear bear friend of the ship's captian who gifted the
captain with a plethora of chocolate treats.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to John Adams, declared chocolate to be superior to
coffee and tea for "both health and nourishment".
BP
|
A little known fact: T. Jefferson's original wording in the Declaration of Independence
read "life, liberty, and the pursuit of chocolate". A few radicals (coffee growers, I suspect!)
refused to sign the document until the word "chocolate" was removed and "happiness" put in its
place!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
American and Russian space flights have always included chocolate as part of the food supplies
BP
|
This is an idea that both NASA and the Russian Space center learned from bears. Even the very first
bear feather flight included chocolate. Moonbeam Bear carried chocolate in her backpack when
she first discovered the lifting abilities of the bear feather. Since that time, all bear flights
have included a piece of chocolate as a remembrance of Moonbeam.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
