Warding Off The Winter Gloomies

This week’s post is rather apropos for me. For the past two weeks I’ve been feeling like death warmed up (yeah, cue the violins). I have one of those horrible winter bugs that can only be kicked with rest and healthy food. For those of you in the middle of summer, I’m sure it’s hard to imagine gray skies and rainy days, but believe me, it’s very real for those of us in the southern hemisphere right now. Rather than wallow in misery, I choose to be proactive. The Mayans, Aztecs, and Incas seemed to have it all worked out in the healthy food stakes, so here’s what I’m having for dinner tonight:

Purple Corn: It’s still grown in Peru and was once a staple of the Incas. Purple corn is now popular in other countries, including Australia (yep, I’ve spied it at the markets). Since Inca times, the Andean people have made chicha morada, a tasty drink that is known to be extremely high in anthocyanin, a molecule found in flowers, leaves, stems, fruits, and veggies. There have been many studies about how fruits and vegetables containing anthocyanin affect the human body, including the potential health effects in fighting cancer, neurological disease, inflammation, diabetes, and bacterial infections. 

Purple corn is high in antioxidants, thus making it a healthy, and very cool colored addition to any meal. Just imagine the smile on a kid’s face if you dished up some purple corn bread!

Adding purple to the plate is a nice way to start a meal, but what about some gold?

Quinoa is rich in protein, is fluffy, creamy and has a slight crunch even when cooked. Some say it has a nutty flavour. Once considered the ‘gold of the Incas’, Quinoa is related to leafy green vegetables such as spinach and Swiss chard, although most people think of Quinoa as a grain.

The tiny Quinoa grains supply a complete protein, meaning it has all the nine essential amino acids. It’s the perfect choice for vegans concerned about adequate protein intake. Quinoa also contains the amino acid lysine, which helps in tissue growth and repair. Magnesium, iron, copper, and phosphorus are included in Quinoa, and many people swear eating this grain on a regular basis helps with migraine headaches, diabetes, menopause, and hardening of the arteries.

Photo by Shizhao

Just to add one more ingredient to my healthy dinner, I’m going for the Chia seed. Originally from Mexico, this seed is high in Omega-3 acids and contains fibre, calcium, iron, and magnesium. They’re easy to store, you can snack on them without having to go to great lengths to prepare them, and they’re easy to digest. The best thing about the Chia seed is once it’s ground, it can be mixed in with flour to make bread, cakes, and biscuits. Mmmm... blueberry muffins, anyone? The versatility of the Chia seed goes on. Once soaked, the seeds can be used in puddings and porridge, and to make the Mexican drink, chia fresca.

Originally used by the Mayans, the chilli seed has been found to help with cold and flu symptoms. Guess what’s being sprinkled on my dinner tonight?

So while I’m lolling about on the sofa, trying not to feel too wretched, I’ll look to the Mexicans once again, who know how to use their food to heal. I might just make a nice cinnamon tea to help with the nausea, and if I felt well enough to get drunk and have a hangover, then I’d make a nice, strong spearmint tea with nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon to help with that headache. 

And for those enjoying sunny days and in need of a refreshing drink, why not try this recipe for Chicha Morada?

1 gallon (3.5 liters) of water

1 15 ounce package of dried purple corn (maiz morado)

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tbsp whole cloves

The juice of 5 large lemons

1 ½ cups of brown sugar

½ cup fresh pineapple, cubed (small)

½ apple cubed (small)

Add the corn, cinnamon sticks, and cloves to the water and bring to boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 45 minutes. Remove from the stove and strain the contents of the pot to remove the corn and spices. Stir in the lemon juice and sugar, and refrigerate until cold. Just before you’re ready to serve, add the chopped pineapple and apple before pouring into glasses filled with ice. Yummo!

Bean There, Done That

As a writer, I take research very seriously. I’ve invested years sampling this particular invention so I can present today’s post with good authority—chocolate.

Three thousand years ago, the people of Central and South America, and in particular, Mexico, cultivated theobroma cacao, the original cacao bean, and used it in religious ceremonies and for medicinal purposes. They found the bean could combat fatigue, not unlike the effects of coffee. For intestinal and stomach problems, a chocolate drink was mixed with the bark of the silk cotton tree. If fever and fainting were the problem, then patients consumed eight to ten cacao beans mixed with dried maize kernels.

Archaeologists in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, discovered the cacao had been cultivated as far back as 1100 to 1400 B.C. when they found a white pulp from the cacao bean in a vessel and, later, discovered the ancient Hondurans used cacao pulp as a sugar fermented to create a type of alcoholic drink. 

The Aztecs didn’t use chocolate in cooking, even though many people think they did. According to food historians, the Aztecs prepared their chocolate drink by grinding roasted cacao beans and mixing them with water and adding chili, maize, or honey. Sometimes they added flowers, and consumed the drink cool, not hot. Coriander, sage, and vanilla (extracted from the pods of orchids) were also favorite additional flavorings.

The Mayans of the Yucután drank their chocolate hot, a precursor to today’s popular drink. In 1556 A.D., a conquistador published only as the Anonymous Conqueror documented how Mayans prepared the drink. They mixed the powder with water and transferred the liquid from one basin to another so the foam rose to the top of the vessel. They stirred the drink with gold, silver, or wooden spoons and kept their mouths open wide to let as much foam as possible pass between their lips. The conquistador witnessed people drinking this concoction in the morning then walking for miles for the remainder of the day, not stopping for more food. (Probably trying to burn off those calories, methinks.)

Conquistador Francisco Hernandez sampled a variety of chocolate drinks on his travels—green cacao pods, honeyed chocolate, flowered chocolate, and a bright red chocolate made from the huitztexcolli flower. And according to accounts by the Spanish officers who dined with Montezuma in 1520 at Tenochtitlan, the king enjoyed drinking chocolate from cups made of pure gold.

After the Spanish conquistadors made their mark in the Americas, they imported chocolate to Europe. Only the wealthy could afford it, and to keep up with demand, the Spanish fleets enslaved the Mesoamericans (people of Aztec and Mayan descent) to get them to produce more cacao. Eventually, the Spanish grew their own beans and used African slaves as labor.

By 1657, a Frenchman opened London’s first chocolate house. And in 1689, Dr. Hans Sloane discovered a drink made from chocolate in Jamaica. The bitter taste didn’t appeal to him, though, so he mixed it with milk. He sold the powdered chocolate in tins to the Cadbury brothers in 1897 and, in my humble opinion, the world changed for the better. The Dutch van Houten family created what is known as “dutched chocolate”—a method that squeezes out cocoa butter, enabling the chocolate to be set hard in molds. Yes, history’s very first chocolate bars! But it wasn’t until the Industrial Revolution that these little bars of joy saw mass production and became available to the general populace.

In 1899, Jean Tobler opened up a chocolate factor in Berne, Switzerland, changing the course of chocolate once again. He invented the modern Toblerone by combining almonds and a unique blend of cocoa. My mouth thanks you, Mr. Tobler, but my waistline doesn’t!

A Mr. Rudolfe Lindt thought adding cocoa butter back into the cocoa mass of crushed and ground beans might be a good idea. He did this, lengthened the kneading process, and a velvety smooth and very shiny type of chocolate was born. Mr. Lindt, you are to blame for those extra hours I should be pounding the pavement!

So next time you wander into Starbucks for a hot chocolate or a mochaccino, perhaps pause and give thanks to the clever Mesoamericans for discovering a little thing that has brought joy to many over the centuries.