All About Thyme: February 2024

Valentine's Day Edition

February's Special Days: A Potpourri of Celebrations

Herb of the Year for 2024:  Yarrow (Achillea millefolium). Named by the International Herb Association
February’s flower is the Violet: Faithfulness, Wisdom and Hope
February is Heart-Healthy Month, Black History Month
February’s Feature: Chocolate: The Story of Valentine’s Day

Week 1
February 9. National Pizza Day.
February 10. National "Have a Brownie" Day. Fannie Farmer published the first written recipe for brownies (chocolate, of course) in 1896.

Week 2
February 13. Mardi Gras!
February 14. Valentine's Day, voted the Sweetest Day of the Year by chocolate lovers everywhere.
February 17. Random Acts of Kindness Day. Need a suggestion or two?

Week 3
February 19. National Chocolate Mint Day.
February 22. George Washington's birthday.

Week 4
February 28. National Chocolate Soufflé Day.
February 29. Ann Lee, founder of the Shaker faith, was born in England on this day in 1736. In their era, the Shakers were the most important commercial purveyors of herbs.

Chocolate: The Story of Valentine’s Day

The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao)

The story of chocolate is long and . . . well, complicated. It begins some 3000 years ago, with the Mayans, who revered the cacao tree as the “food of the gods.” They used cacao beans as currency and brewed them into a bitter drink called xocolatl which they believed increased sexual desire and fertility—a reputation enhanced by the mix of cacao and spicy chiles in the drink and perhaps (you think?) based on the appearance of the pods.

Centuries later, the Aztecs believed that they had received cacao from their creator god, Quetzalcoatl. But his generosity displeased the other divinities, who were the jealous sort, anyway. (You’ve done what? Given the food of the gods to those uncivilized brutes?!?). They banished him. He left, promising (of course) to return—a mythical promise that came back to bite the Aztecs in 1521 CE, when Hernán Cortés and his Spanish soldiers showed up. This did not end well for the Aztecs, who lost their gods, their freedom, their silver, and their chocolate.  

We don’t know exactly how chocolate made it to Europe. Was it Columbus, Cortes, or the Franciscan friars who in 1544 brought both slaves and xocolatl to the Spanish court? Whatever the route, it didn’t take long for the beverage to become the rage of Europe—not in its bitter Aztec form, but sweetened with sugar, flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg, and propelled by its reputation as a powerful aphrodisiac. By the next century, demand had produced a highly profitable colonial industry: South American cacao plantations and Caribbean sugar plantations, worked by enslaved peoples; increased commercial spice trading; and (of course) chocolatiers who began experimenting with ways to process this delightful product.

Chocolate became more accessible in 1828 when a Dutch family—the van Houtens, father and son—invented a press that squeezed the cocoa butter, a natural fat, from roasted cocoa beans, creating a cake that was then pulverized into “Dutch” cocoa powder that could more easily be stirred into beverages. Twenty years later, a Brit named Joseph Fry added melted cacao butter back into Dutch cocoa and molded the first chocolate bar. Twenty years after that, Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter added dried milk, creating milk chocolate, and soon companies named Cadbury, Hershey, Mars, and Nestlé were mass-producing enough chocolate cheaply enough to satisfy everybody’s sweet tooth.

How did Valentine’s Day get into the story? Many of the sentimental legends associated with St. Valentine and his feast day can be traced back to Geoffrey Chaucer’s Parliament of Birds (c. 1381), celebrating the betrothal of Richard II and Anne of Bohemia. Five hundred years later, in Queen Victoria’s era, February 14 was firmly associated with romantic love and everybody was obsessed with sending their sweethearts hearts and flowers. What better Valentine’s gift than chocolate, which already had a reputation as an aphrodisiac? (Its association with S-E-X may have made it sinful, on a par with alcohol and coffee—making it all the better, of course.)

British confectioner Richard Cadbury was the marketing who in 1861 packaged his sinfully-sweet chocolates in a heart-shaped box festooned with cupids and rosebuds. The rest, as they say, is history. Today, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are ubiquitous around Valentine’s Day, and in North America, more than 36 million heart-shaped boxes holding 58 million pounds of chocolate are sold each year and they have become a quintessential symbol of Valentine’s Day celebrations.

But why, you’re asking, is this delightful confection considered an herb? Because every culture familiar with this plant has used it medicinally. For instance, the 16th-century Florentine Codex, documenting Mesoamerican uses, lists over 100 remedies for xocolatl, including stomach complaints, fever, shortness of breath, promoting lactation in new mothers, promoting libido and fertility, and more. When it reached Europe, doctors prescribed it for everything from tuberculosis to intestinal parasites and sexual dysfunction.

Modern science tells us that these earlier people were onto something. Studies suggest that dark chocolate can improve heart health by reducing oxidative stress and lowering blood pressure. Chocolate’s flavanols may enhance cognitive function, possibly by improving blood flow to the brain. And dark chocolate’s antioxidants help combat the free radicals that damage cells and contribute to aging and diseases. Most benefits are reported from chocolate that has at least a 70% cacao content. This Johns Hopkins page has reliable information.

So on Valentine’s Day, indulge yourself. And always remember that chocolate, like many other good things in life, is an herb, too.

Your February To-Do List

If chocolate doesn’t do the trick, check out Gastro Obscura’s titillating catalog of libido-boosters around the globe, from Irish moss to Coco de Mer. Aphrodisiacs come in all shapes and sizes!

Pizza's history goes back to 18th century Naples. It doesn’t have to come out of a box. Here are some ideas to inspire your own creative effort. Herbs make it personal.

To celebrate chocolate and mint (what could possibly go wrong with this combination?), try this hugely decadent Mint Chocolate Brownie recipe. It. Is. Scrumptious.

To see what kind of dishes the Mother of Our Country served the Father of Our Country, take a look at Martha Washington's famous cookbook and learn how to make a Lettis Tart. (Suppose the Constitution was on the discussion menu at their table?)

Timing is everything when it comes to a soufflé, but the chocolate version (only 7 ingredients!) is worth the attention. Here's a step-by-step tutorial.

For Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras, enjoy a bushel of indulgences. (We're very fond of the Slow-Cooker Jambalaya. Don't skimp on the smoked paprika.)

If you want to know more about Shaker history, take a trip to a Shaker village with China Bayles in Wormwood. You'll learn all about the Shakers' herbal practices. “Engaging . . . Shaker-inspired recipes, excerpts from a fictional Shaker journal, insights into the Shaker religion and plenty of herbal lore."—Publishers Weekly

Supporting subscribers: On Feb. 21, we’ll begin our BookTalk discussion of Someone Always Nearby: A Novel of Georgia O’Keeffe and Maria Chabot. I’ll email you a few discussion questions on February 14. If you’d like to propose a question or two about the book, please send them to susanalbert01 @ gmail dot com. We’ll use our regular comment format for the discussion. And don’t forget: there’s a comprehensive study guide available free on the book’s webpage.