At Christmas-time there're a lot of different marzipan products available - marzipan fruits, chocolates cakes and so on. It started me thinking about what marzipan is and what it was used for originally...
 
The word marzipan probably means "march bread"  and is a German word - It was known as marchpane in old English and was probably derived from the Italian mazipane.
 
Most people think of it now as confectionary consisting of sugar (or honey), almonds and colouring; or perhaps as a paste included in stollen (or covering a cake). 
 
Marzipan probably came from the Orient originally and was introduced into Europe during the crusades. At this time it was a really expensive luxury product - because sugar was really costly and not widely available at this time. It was also considered a medicine - and because of this it was mostly produced by pharmacists in medieval times!
 
According to ancient literature, marzipan seems to have been used in those far off days for its beneficial effect on the brain - and perhaps there is some science in that because almonds contain some lecithin - which may have an effect on memory function and learning?
 
Before you all go out and start consuming vast quantities, however, please bear in mind the calorific nature of marzipan - it contains a lot of energy - and excessive ingestion will lead to weight gain!

As I write this, my thoughts are turning to the festive period - A time where many people eat and drink to excess...I love chocolate, and at this time of year there are so many gorgeous products to choose from...and there's an assumption that it's all really bad for health? Well, perhaps not - according to some recent studies...you may be surprised (and pleased to learn?) that moderate chocolate consumption has been shown to lower stroke risk and blood pressure...
 
According to a recent Swedish study that looked at stroke risk in men, the group that ate the most chocolate (of all types - not just dark chocolate!) was 19% less likely to suffer a stroke than the group that consumed the least. Perhaps this benefit is related to the flavonoids in chocolate? Flavonoids certainly seem to provide some degree of cardioprotection as they are antioxidants, have anti-inflammatory actions and provide a degree of anticlotting. It's also possible that these products may decrease concentrations of bad cholesterol.
 
Another Cochrane Collaboration meta-analysis suggests that chocolate and cocoa products may reduce blood pressure slightly. The results showed that patients who ate 105g of cocoa products each day had reduced systolic blood pressure of about 3mm of mercury and reduced diastolic by >2mm of mercury.
 
This new evidence seems to give the green light to eat plenty of chocolate over the Yuletide, but as the authors of the Swedish study point out - chocolate is high in sugar, fat and calories so should only be consumed in moderation...
 
But, it's almost Xmas - and I'm off to eat some chocolate now...Happy Christmas everyone!