a pink box filled with different types of food

Catering

How Chocolate became the food of love

By ResLifeComms 14 Feb 2024

From the time of the Aztecs, chocolate was considered an aphrodisiac. So, it's reasonable to assume that it has been connected to love's dedicated day of celebration for many centuries. But that isn't the case.

What about the Mayans?

The Mayans considered cacao a gift from God and they used it for sacred ceremonies and funeral offerings. A chronicler of Hernan Cortés' conquest of Mexico claimed that Moctezuma was served gold cups with a drink made of cacao at a banquet with him. At first, the Spaniard did not pay much attention. But he noticed they had brought more than 50 jars of chocolate with foam, so he drank some. Chocolate has been known for its aphrodisiac properties since Europe first encountered it.

Travelling onto Spain

Mugs of the frothy drink proved instantly popular in Spain. And the chocolate was embraced with equal passion when it travelled beyond Spain's borders, crossing into Italy, France and, step by step, across Europe.

Wherever chocolate travelled, its reputation as a sexual stimulant seemed to follow. The Marquis de Sade celebrated chocolate's potency, and Giacomo Casanova called it the "elixir of love."

Reaching England

In Restoration England, the learned physician Henry Stubbe wrote in The Natural History of Chocolate (1662) of the "great use of Chocolate in Venery [sexual indulgence], and for supplying the Testicles with a Balsam, or a Sap.". A chocoholic, the merry monarch spent £229 10s 8d in 1669. That's significantly more than he spent on tea (just £6). For most people, though, chocolate was still an extravagance out of reach.

During Queen Victoria's reign, chocolate became affordable for the middle class, and Valentine's Day hit its stride due to the rise of inexpensive penny post and mass-produced cards. Just ten years later, British chocolate maker J.S. Fry & Sons produced the first modern-day bar. But its rival Cadbury would ultimately be the one to connect Valentine's Day with chocolate and the rest was history 😎

The famous heart shape box of chocolates

Launched in 1861 by Richard Cadbury, under a heavily decorated lid, assorted bonbons filled with marzipan, chocolate-flavoured ganache and fruity crèmes nestled in lace doilies can be found. And it became so popular, that only seven years later, the famous Fancy Box in the shape of a heart for the romantic holiday was created.