Chocolate: Or, an Indian Drinke: By the Wise and Moderate Use Whereof, Health is Preserved, Sicknesse Diverted, and Cured, Especially the Plague of the Guts; Vulgarly Called the New Disease

In 1652 England, chocolate was still a miraculous foreign curiosity, a bitter Mesoamerican drink that had only recently crossed the Atlantic and into the refined parlors of the English court. Antonio Colmenero de Ledesma, a Spanish physician, penned this charming treatise as both recipe book and medical defense, arguing that this "Indian Drinke" could preserve health, cure the plague of the guts, and even remedy the defects of nature. Written in delightful early modern English (the original Spanish translated by one Mr. Sedan), the text reads like a passionate sales pitch wrapped in pseudo-scientific philosophy: chocolate is money-saving medicine, beauty aid, and digestive tonic all in one exotic brown package. Colmenero dispenses with recipes spiced with cinnamon, ambergris, and annise, while earnestly addressing controversies about whether chocolate rots the stomach or causes unpleasant humors. For modern readers, the book is a captivating time capsule. Here is chocolate before it became commonplace, when a few beans could seem more valuable than gold, and when Europe's best minds debated whether this strange New World indulgence might actually be good for you.