Best friend is not talking? Celebration? Sad? Need a gift idea? Dessert anyone?

The answer to all your questions is chocolate. Extracted from the cacao tree, chocolate is considered to be the ultimate mood booster by many. The earliest use of chocolate in history is from 1100 BC.

Chocolate is consumed in many forms. In unsweetened powder form, it is used in baking. Unsweetened solids are used in cooking or as part of the scrumptious cake toppings. Sweetened milk chocolate becomes a snack or an after dinner snack. When it is liquid it is used a topping over sundaes. When added to milk, you can enjoy a chocolate flavored concoction.

Chocolate has actually been found to be good for health. According to Harvard School of Public Health, men who consume chocolate (obviously in moderate quantities) are found to live longer. Research tells that chocolate actually is good for heart. So start taking care of you, take chocolate once or twice a month and keep the doctor away.

It also is acts as an anti-depressant. Try taking a piece or two of chocolate when you are feeling down, and you will feel much better after that. It is said that chocolate activates the happy parts of the brain, and chases the gloom away.

Apart from the good things that chocolate does, it is blamed for some bad things too. It is considered that chocolate causes problems like tooth decay, obesity and acne. Even though it is not yet proven, it can be accounted to the fact that the chocolate we consume is high on sugar content. Sugar has always been the culprit behind the above mentioned problems.

The key to benefiting from chocolate is moderation as too much of everything is bad for health. This month when you are expressing or are being expressed love from your friends, family, spouse or precious one using chocolate, just remember, the amount of chocolate you consume is not representative of your love.

At the end, a little gift from our side for homemade sweet chocolate, a little something to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Ingredients

3 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tbsp butter, at room temperature

Method

Put all the three in a bowl, mix together thoroughly. Put in the refrigerator to harden up a bit. Eat and enjoy.