For millenia, chocolate has been believed to be an aphrodisiac and thus connected to love's dedicated day of celebration. But it simply isn’t so. To explain, we’ll go back in time.
Valentine's Day’s origin likely goes back to the pagan Roman festival of Lupercalia. Those Romans, though, didn’t exchange candy grams or chocolate, but whippings in an act believed to part of a fertility ritual. We won’t go into the lurid details here, and instead suggest that it morphed into a tamer Christian feast day by the year A.D. 496, when Pope Gelasius I commemorated a martyred saint, Valentine. It’s recorded that in the third century A.D., the Roman emperor Claudius II executed two more Valentines, also on Feb. 14th.
But it was Canterbury Tales author Geoffrey Chaucer who first specifically linked the holiday to love. In his 1382 poem The Parliament of Fowls, a large flock of birds gather on "Seynt Valentynes day" to choose their mates. Soon after, more poets followed Chaucer's lead, helping to further cement the day into loving sentiment through tales of courtly love, chivalric knights, and fair maidens. Amateur poets took up their quills, too, and followed the tradition of writing verse to their lovers for the occasion some of which landed in early valentines.
It wasn’t until the mid 1800s that February 14th became the day in Britain and the U.S. on which people expressed their affection by exchanging cards decorated with lace, ribbons, flowers, and cupids. And thus with them, arrived chocolate with its suggestive, or perhaps, hopeful implications. From Europe's first contact with it, chocolate had a reputation for aphrodisiac powers. Aztec emperor, Moctezuma, is recorded to have been served gold cups "with a certain drink made of cacao, which they said was for success with woman." And thus it spread in popularity back in Spain, and across borders in Italy and France. Wherever chocolate went, its reputation as a liquid libido of sorts seemed to follow. Giacomo Casanova went so far as to call chocolate the "elixir of love.”
In mid 17th century England, the noted physician Henry Stubbe advocated the chocolate drink by writing of its sexual potency in The Natural History of Chocolate. He’s also known to have prepared it for King Charles II, who many know as England's first chocoholic, spent £229 on chocolate. That's significantly more than he spent on tea (just £6), or even what his chief mistress received for an allowance (£200). For most people, though, chocolate remained a luxury that few could afford. But by the early 1800s, during the reign of Queen Victoria, that changed. Valentine's Day was gaining in popularity thanks in large part to the rise of the inexpensive penny pos, mass-produced cards, and the dropping price of chocolate.
In 1847, the British chocolate maker J.S. Fry & Sons produced the first modern day chocolate bar by combining cacao powder and sugar with cacao butter to form a moldable paste. A few years later, the company sold the first filled chocolates with flavored centers. It was Cadbury that eclipsed J.S. Fry & Sons efforts and would ultimately be the brand synonymous with Valentine's Day and chocolate. Cadbury’s first chocolate boxes hit stores in the 1860s. Inside, under a heavily decorated lid, were assorted bonbons filled with marzipan, chocolate-flavored ganache and fruity crèmes nestled in lace doilies. People kept the boxes long after the chocolates were gone to store love letters, locks of hair, and other treasured mementos.
These days, In the United States, some 40 million heart-shaped boxes of chocolates are sold for Valentine's Day. More than half of those are from Russell Stover. No brand, and inside no box, is there a promise that chocolate sold will enhance one’s libido. It’s only really psychosomatic. And for some, that’s enough.
So where can you find the best chocolate during your stay at Seaview? Tripician’s Macaroons, in Reed Bay Plaza on Route 9, still hand-wraps individually and hand-dipped macaroons that got a start on the Atlantic City Boardwalk back in 1910. Their assorted chocolate candies and chocolate covered pretzels draw crowds, too. Pre-order online to make sure you don’t miss their heart-shaped fudge, sweet chocolate cakes, chocolate biscotti, and more, all made specially for Valentine’s Day. Our other spot is Luscious & Sweet Gourmet Bakery. Indulge in some of the best chocolate cake, cupcakes and cookies you’ve ever tasted. Trust us, even if chocolate isn’t your favorite, the smell is to die for. As Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz famously once said, "All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt." Book your stay at Seaview for Valentine’s Day and sweeten the deal with a little local chocolate.
