The Very First Chocolate

The Olmec were probably the first people to appreciate chocolate. They began cultivating cacao around 1500 B.C., according to Michael Coe, co-author of The True History of Chocolate. The Olmec are best known for their sculptures of giant faces, like this one from La Venta. Their civilization left little in the way of written records, and modern researchers feel that their influence on other Mesoamerican cultures may have been underestimated. This seems to be the case when it comes to chocolate.

The earliest hard evidence of chocolate's being consumed by humans comes from residue in a Mayan vessel dating from before 500 A.D. The Maya combined cocoa with honey, maize, and hot peppers to create a rich, foamy drink described by the Spanish in the 1500s. It was long believed that the Maya were the first to use chocolate.

However, Coe points out that the word "cacao" is derived from the Olmec rather than the Mayan language. Anthropologist Amber VanDerwarker has shown that the Olmec were agriculturalists, managing orchards of fruit trees. Then why not cacao as well?

Further study may be required to establish with certainty whether the Olmec were the very first to discover the food value of chocolate. We can say with confidence that by the time Europeans visited the Americas, chocolate was firmly established as an important food crop.

Chocolate and Antioxidants

Antioxidants are good for your health. Here are just some of the wonders these natural health powerhouses can perform:

• reduce the likelihood of Alzheimer's disease
• prevent wrinkles
• help guard against cancer
• reduce rates of diabetes, heart disease, and other diseases of aging
• increase resistance to viruses
  

Your most fun source of antioxidants? Chocolate!

The key to chocolate's health benefits lies in two components occurring naturally in chocolate. First, cocoa phenols. European chocolate is generally richer in cocoa phenols than American chocolate, possibly because European chocolate tends to have a higher percentage of cacao relative to other ingredients. A recent German study found that these compounds lower blood pressure.

The other antioxidant compounds in chocolate are catechins. According to a recent Dutch study, dark chocolate had 53.5 mg of catechins per 100 gm, and milk chocolate had 15.9 mg per 100 gm. Black tea, previously thought to be the best source of these antioxidants, contains 13.9 mg per 100 ml.

We're not suggesting that you give up fruits and vegetables, the primary sources of antioxidants. However, if you're going to eat dessert -- and sometimes you should -- then it ought to be chocolate.

Custom World's Sweetest Eggs

When you choose a promotional item for a trade show, fair, client visit, or gift-giving, the goal is to help clients and prospects remember you.


World's Sweetest Eggs will accomplish this goal. Each one is a natural eggshell, emptied and sterilized by a special process. The eggshell is then filled with a special blend of dark, milk, and hazelnut chocolate.

The lucky recipients of the egg will crack, peel, and enjoy it. Then they'll tell people about the unusual treat they saw, and about the company or organization whose name was on that egg.


Any logo or message can be printed on World's Sweetest Eggs. Shouldn't your logo or message be on the World's Sweetest Egg?

If you think you're addicted to chocolate...

When chocolate was brought to the Old World, the people of Spain added sugar and spices to it, creating a wonderful drink which we would recognize today as hot chocolate.

So desirable did the women of Spain and of New Spain find this drink that they had their maids bring cups of hot chocolate to them during mass. They couldn't do without chocolate even for the length of a sermon.

There were official objections to this perhaps excessive devotion to chocolate. Nonetheless, the church decided that chocolate was not a food, and therefore could be consumed on fast days -- just not in church.

Tins of Chocolate

These are not beautiful river pebbles -- they're fine milk chocolate in a hard candy coating.

They make a sweet gift, or a pleasantly self-indulgent way to keep a bit of chocolate on hand for yourself. One symphony orchestra in the Midwest is betting that they'll be a popular treat for concert-goers.

Since they can be adorned with private labels, they'll make an excellent fundraising item for the orchestra. Those who don't buy them to enjoy during the concert can take them home as a souvenir of their special evening with the symphony.

What do we mean by "real" chocolate?

Chocolate is chocolate, right?

In fact, the chocolate that we eat is a combination of cocoa or cacao with cocoa butter, sugar, and possibly other ingredients as well. Common additions are lecithin, a natural emulsifier, and vanillin or other flavors. Milk chocolate of course also contains milk.

The ingredients are "conched", which is to say they are blended in a special machine, to create eating chocolate.

In the United States, anything containing at least 10% cocoa can be described as "chocolate." However, fine milk chocolate may contain 50% cocoa, and dark chocolate can be as much as 99% cocoa.

Anything with less than 10% cocoa must be called "chocolaty" or "chocolate flavored" or "chocolate taste." Foods using these descriptions may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in place of cocoa butter, whey products in place of milk, or corn syrup in place of sugar.

We don't call them real chocolate. Our products, on the other hand, are all made of real chocolate.

Fundraising with Chocolate

The giant who lived at the top of Jack's beanstalk had a goose that laid golden eggs.

Wouldn't every nonprofit like to have one of those?

The next best thing is the World's Sweetest Egg. Carefully sterilized natural eggshells are filled with a luscious combination of light, dark, and hazelnut chocolates. They can be peeled like a hard-boiled egg and eaten.

Even better, from the fundraising point of view, they can be imprinted with your organization's name, logo or message -- or any other image you choose. It's easy to make these eggs match a particular fundraiser or event.

They're a unique item, perfect as a keepsake or souvenir, perfect as a special indulgence to share with a loved one. Give them to attendees at special events as a little gift to mark the occasion or sell them at your information or ticket booth.

No goose required.