Taste buds rejoice as chocolate proves to have health benefits

In today's world, it's almost axiomatic most things good "to" you are bad "for" you. I'm sure all of us continually run into such challenges to our food preferences.

Good grief, how things have changed. I grew up in a time when Southern families used lard and bacon grease in and on about everything except banana pudding. Looking back, I can't figure how folks lived much more than 40 years, given such destructive diets.

We ate anything and everything. There were only two reasons to stop eating something you liked - you got too full to swallow or ran out of it.

There were no "health" issues. You ate well and wanted everybody else to do the same. Anybody setting foot inside the house (or the porch) was bombarded with offers of food and drink. Refusals were ignored with something like, "Here's another slab of pie."

Over time, my diet has certainly "evolved." After all, I want to live to a ripe old age even if that means I might be a bit hungry.

So, I've continued to eat as well as possible, but many of my old favorites have been relegated to memory. I barely recall the last time I ate a whole dozen glazed Dunkin' Donuts at one sitting. Mmmm.

Be still my heart, but there's good news. Pendulums can't always swing away from me. Every now and then it has to return, as it did with the revelation that dark chocolate has beneficial medicinal properties. Eureka!

Oh my goodness, what beautiful vistas open with that little scientific tidbit? This could be wonderful. In fact, it already is. My mind is racing.

All chocolate isn't created equal. I've heard news blurbs about avoiding white chocolate and milk chocolate in favor of dark chocolate. Not to worry, I'm willing to do that.

I knew that stuff was special from my very first Hershey bar.

Chocolate has a deep history, thousands of years deep. Ancient Mayans grew cacao for beverages. In fact, when they conquered other peoples, they demanded tribute paid in cacao seeds.

Spanish conquistadors took cocoa seeds back to Spain. Eventually the drink's popularity spread throughout Europe. More than five centuries later, chocolate has permeated many cultures, especially Otis Gardner's and Starbucks'.

Why write about chocolate?

This literary bonbon was put into my mind by an article in the current issue of Discover magazine. According to analysis of 3,000-year-old pottery shards from northern Honduras, scientists found evidence that those ancients fermented cacao seed pulp to make a wine-like drink.

Some of these folks were "chocoholics" in the literal sense. And, I thought that was a modern concept for us folks who like candy.

Ancient people got drunk from chocolate-based concoctions. There's humor in that cup.

I'm so thankful that without fermentation, cocoa has no intoxicating properties, although the beans are said to contain a trace of hallucinogens.

Holy cow, if that weret true, I would've been arrested countless times driving under the influence of Hostess cupcakes.

There's no telling how many milkshakes I've chug-a-lugged in my life. It's sobering (pun intended) to imagine going on a Dairy Queen binge, waking up hungover in a cheap motel lying next to Betty Crocker. Oh, the shame of it all.

Just kidding, but there is current booze news on this subject. An outfit in Delaware is producing a beer based upon the original chocolate recipe as determined by biomolecular archaeologists. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery will bottle it. I definitely want to try it.

I've never liked beer but have always wanted to. The concept of a cold one on a hot day is pleasing to me, but I've never been able to get past the taste. One swallow is good but past that, it falls downhill fast. This cacao beer piques my interest.

I'm enjoying this resurrection of chocolate as a healthy food of choice. It shouldn't be difficult for me to get back in the "chocolate" habit. Do I hear laughter?

I'll start tonight. I doubt many of you remember what a "real" cup of hot chocolate tastes like. The main ingredient is Hershey's bitter powdered chocolate in the can. You mix it with hot milk and sugar (Splenda works for me).

I'll research this new Dogfish Head brew and hopefully can get my hands on a few bottles. If successful, I'll let you know how it is and where you can get it.

It's probably nasty, but I'm willing to try anything that contains chocolate in any form. Does anybody but me remember chocolate covered ants? No, I'm not kidding.