Next to flowers and jewelry, chocolate is a staple gift on Valentine's Day. Although much of Valentine's day is all about marketing (if you love someone/something - say it daily), chocolate has history as a love food. According to a Smithsonian article , "passion for chocolate is well-rooted in Mesoamerican history. It was a highly-prized luxury item among Mayan and Aztec upper class elites, who were known to savor a drink that combined roasted cacao beans with cornmeal, vanilla, honey and chilies. Cacao beans were as valuable a commodity as gold, and gold, and were even used to pay taxes levied by Aztec rulers. By the early 1600s, the vogue for chocolate had swept across Europe. In London, chocolate houses began to rival coffee houses as social gathering spots. One shop opened on Gracechurch Street in 1657 advertising chocolate as “a West Indian drink (which) cures and preserves the body of many diseases." In France, Madame de Sevigne wrote about eno...
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