We love Cocoa! Welcome to the Cocoa section of medicinehunter.com, where you will find lots of fun and interesting information about everybody's favorite medicinal plant.

• Cocoa Botanical Sheet
• How to Pick the Right Cocoa Powder (The Dr. Oz Show)
• Cocoa, The Health Miracle
• A Brief History of Cocoa
• Theobroma Cacao, The Chocolate Tree
• Cocoa and The Creation
• Chocolate: The Love Drug
• Cocoa Expedition Gallery
• Psyche Delicacies, a book by Chris Kilham
• Cocoa in the Media

Did you know that Cocoa is a Medicinal Plant, a Sacred plant, a Hot Plant, and a Psychoactive Plant? Did you know Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) means "Food of the Gods"? Did you know that the Aztecs regarded cocoa as a sacred plant, and they valued cocoa beans as currency? Did you know that Cacao trees bear cocoa pods that jut out directly from the trunk? Did you know that, according to traditional classification, there are three varieties of Theobroma cacao whose beans are used in the making of chocolate? Did you know that chocolates can vary as widely in flavor and aroma as do wines? Did you know, that of all foods known, cocoa has the highest antioxidant polyphenol content, and provides the greatest cardio-protection? Did you know that even small amounts of cocoa can reduce cholesterol in the blood, and can lower blood pressure? There is much to share with you about Cocoa.

“After water, cocoa is the single healthiest substance you can put in your mouth. It can easily replace a number of psychiatric drugs for mood, plus it produces the same chemistry in the brain that occurs when we fall in love.” - Chris Kilham

“Cocoa and chocolate have emerged as health superstars. This odd turn of events is of course thrilling to cocoa and chocolate lovers.” – Chris Kilham,

“Sometime around 1000 B.C. the Maya, whose civilization flourished from the Yucatan Peninsula to the Pacific coast of Guatemala, are believed to have cultivated the cacao tree for the very first time. The Maya so highly valued cacao, they used cocoa beans as currency, and to pay taxes. From the very onset of its use, cocoa was assigned high status.” – Chris Kilham

“Whatever your previous notions of cocoa may have been, you will be surprised by what you learn here. For cocoa, an agent of sensual delight and nourishment since antiquity, is the mightiest of protective, health-imbuing agents. It literally has the power to transform medicine, and to save millions of lives.” – Chris Kilham

“Cocoa, the food of the gods and the electuary of lovers, has captivated humanity with its exotic flavor and sensuous mouth feel. Well done, bravo! Cocoa is the heroic delight, the preferred food of children and poets alike. The world would be a poorer place if not for heavenly cocoa!” – Chris Kilham

“Though Theobroma cacao surely originated from South America, the tree is now cultivated in virtually every tropical area in the world. This widespread distribution is testimony to the popularity of the tree and the heavenly fruit from which chocolate is made.” – Chris Kilham

“And so it came to pass that cacao was one of the essential materials used by the god of all gods to create human beings. And as is only right for a plant of such importance to our very being, cacao was held in the utmost esteem from that day onward.” – Chris Kilham

“While there are a great many agents in nature which boost libido and enhance sexual function, chocolate alone actually promotes the brain chemistry of being in love.” – Chris Kilham

“What got me turned onto the Kuna in the first place was twenty years of Harvard University studies showing that the Kuna have among the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease in the world, even though they're poor, have lousy sanitation and hygiene, no access to medicine… and yet, they have this remarkably low incident of heart attack, stroke, and high blood pressure: and they consume four to five cups of cocoa a piece, every single day. – Chris Kilham, ABC Good Morning America