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The cultural pharmacology of chocolate

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2004 by Tim Batchelder

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Santiago de Valverde Turices in 1624 argued that cacao was "cold" by nature, whereas chocolate prepared from beans was "hot" and "dry" and therefore suitable to prescribe to those suffering from "cold" or "wet" illnesses (Valverde Turices 1624, pp.

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D1-2). Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma wrote his treatise on chocolate, Curioso Tratado de la Naturaleza in 1631. He mentioned that cacao preserved health and made consumers fat, corpulent, faire and amiable and "causeth conception in women ... takes away the morpheus, cleaneth the teeth, sweetneth the breath, provokes urine, cures the stone, expels poison, and preserves from all infectious diseases" (Colmenero de Ledesma 1631: A4). Tomas Hurtado noted that a chocolate drink "gives comfort, burns up undigested foods and helps digestion" (Hurtado 1645, Vol. 1, 2:13). Thomas Gage described a form of medicinal chocolate blended with black pepper that was administered to patients with "cold livers" and one mixed with cinnamon promoted urine flow and was administered to patients suffering from kidney disorders and to others "troubled with cold diseases" (Gage 1648, p. 108). Henry Stubbe noted that in the Indies, chocolate was drunk twice each day to restore energy if "one is tired through business, and wants speedy refreshment" and that tlilxochitl (vanilla) was added in a mixture to strengthen the brain and womb. He reported that English soldiers stationed in or about Jamaica lived on cacao nut paste mixed with sugar that the troops dissolved in water and that Indian women often survived entirely on chocolate yet did not exhibit a decline in strength. He noted that the cacao nut was a remedy against inflammations, ergot poisoning and mixed with Jamaica pepper provoked urine and menstrual flow, strengthened the brain, comforted the womb and dissipated excessive "winde," or flatus, while vanilla added to chocolate strengthened the heart, "beget strong spirits" and promoted digestion in the stomach. And when achiote was mixed with chocolate it "allays feverish distempers ... repels praeternatural tumors ... strengthens the gums" (Stubbe 1662: 58-60). He added that different varieties of peppers, specifically mecaxochitl or piso, when mixed with cacao paste "opens obstructions, cures colds, and distempers arising from cold causes; it attenuates gross humors, it strengthens the stomach, and it amends the breath" (Stubbe 1662, p. 67). Several varieties of ear flowers (xochinacaztlis or orichelas) (Cymbopetalum penduliflorum) when mixed with chocolate provided a quality scent and taste to the medicine that was used to strengthen the stomach, revive the spirit, "beget good blood" and to "provoke monthly evacuations in women." Stubbe cited famous physicians who noted that drinking chocolate "helps to digest ill humors, voiding the excrements by sweat, and urine" and that "one may live months, and years using nothing but chocolate" (Stubbe 1662: 97-98).

Health Care Industry

The cultural pharmacology of chocolate

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, Nov, 2004 by Tim Batchelder

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