Chocolate – the definition of well-being
I asked a child what he thinks about chocolate. His answer, with a smile on his lips and eyes closed, almost makes any other explanations unnecessary: ”Mmmmm….delicious!”, I’m sure you also agree with the 6-year-old boy I approached.
But let’s see where and how chocolate appeared.
First of all, cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate comes from Latin America, from cocoa trees. Thousands of years before it entered our regular consumption, chocolate was used in a different form than the one we know.
During the religious rituals, the Mayans and the Incas used a kind of chocolate drink. Then, with the help of the first explorers, it was brought to Europe.
It is believed that the first cocoa beans entered European territory in 1503, through Christopher Columbus. But then it was not known what the grains were used for.
Cortés is the one who discovered that Montezuma, the leader of the Aztecs, consumed a drink made from cocoa beans every day. He called this drink “chocolat”. Montezuma consumed almost 50 cups a day! So that, in 1528, when he returned to Spain from Mexico, he brought with him cocoa beans, but also the necessary equipment to process them into chocolate drink.
Initially, chocolate was considered a medicine, more precisely a panacea. It was recommended by doctors for treating fever, for digestion, for reducing pain. It took more than 100 years for chocolate and the consumption of chocolate to be popular in Europe.
If in the beginning chocolate was consumed only by wealthy people, now we find it everywhere, in various recipes, putting ourselves in difficulties when we have to decide what we want to eat. 
We must not forget that this delicacy contains anandamides, which fills us with energy and well-being. Moreover, it helps to form endorphins in the body, dark chocolate activating serotonin in the brain and reducing stress.
Because we are in the middle of the cold season, the drink with which we can warm up quickly is hot chocolate. And if we manage to discover a delicious recipe, all the better!
Below you will discover the secrets of a wonderful chocolate drink that you can prepare yourself at home. 
You will need:
- 2 cups of milk
- 1/4 cup of quality cocoa powder
- ½ cup of sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp pure vanilla extract
Boil the milk in a larger kettle. Mix cocoa powder with sugar and cinnamon. Put a few spoons of hot milk over the cocoa and mix. Repeat the process until you get a fine paste. Pour the paste into the kettle over the rest of the milk and leave for another 2 minutes, but without boiling. Pour the hot chocolate into mugs and serve while it’s still hot.
Hotel Alpin awaits you to spend a dream vacation in an enchanting landscape where you can ski, where you can enjoy the long-awaited winter, relax at the Vitarium Spa or at the pool, then together with your children you will enjoy a delicious hot chocolate in our restaurants Tosca, Forest or À Propos!
