The superpowers of Choc Nut 

Inquirer.net file photo

To be or nut to be, Choc Nut is the answer.

Eating Choc Nut usually brings back childhood memories since many Filipinos grew up eating this chocolate-peanut candy.

We enjoy every bite with Choc Nut’s unique and rich taste of ground peanuts, milk powder, cocoa, and sugar. Do not underestimate the superpowers of peanuts. When it comes to keeping your mind sharp, peanuts may hold the key.

Choc Nut was my power food as I was traversing the path of legal education.

Law students immersed in law books and cases, faced terror professors, pore through volumes and pages of SCRAs, lined up for photocopying at the law library, hurried through classes, reviewed and crammed through lessons, and survived recitations.

My law school years were indeed difficult moments, but the best and memorable times spent with those who shared the experience.

Patience is a virtue in studying at the law library but the daily supply of Pacencia biscuits and Choc Nut made the ordeal sustainable for me and my classmates.

Peanuts contain a wealth of benefits for the brain. Resveratrol, a bioactive found in peanuts, is believed to cause improved cognitive abilities and short-term memory, increased verbal fluency (the ability to connect and retrieve words) and enhanced processing speed (the ability to take in and respond to new information). A challenge in reading cases is staying awake. The unsaturated fat in peanuts gives one energy, which can help a person to remain alert and to ward off fatigue and sleepiness.

Polyphenols penetrate the area of the brain involved in learning and memory, increase blood flow to the brain (which improves cognition) and has the potential to enhance mood (which may also help to reduce depression.)

I preferred Choc Nut basically for economic reasons as it was within my budget unlike the imported chocolates  by Hershey’s and Cadbury.

During the 2017 oathtaking of the trustees and officers of the Maritime Law Association of the Philippines (MARLAWPh) before Vice President Leni Robredo, I became curious in the presence of Choc Nut as snacks in the meeting room. I was then told that it was also her favorite refreshment.

Her seatmate while she was a congresswoman was from Cavite, where the Choc Nut factory is located. She was given a year-long supply of Choc Nut.

To adhere to the theme of simplicity, Choc Nut was also served as one of the snacks during VP Leni’s inauguration in 2016 along with buchi (rice balls), sotanghon, pandesal, maja blanca, pichi-pichi. 

The iconic delicacy was likewise featured on the Netflix anime Trese series. The large nearly palm-sized Choc Nut is a bribe or a gift, from the show’s main character Alexandra Trese to a sewer-dwelling creature named Nuno.

In Filipino culture, the nuno sa punso is a dwarf-like nature spirit, who lives in an anthill or termite mound. He is a goblin easily angered that will do harm to those who damage or disturb his mound, and will seek retribution.

Nunos may also inhabit places such as underneath large rocks, trees, riverbanks, caves, or a backyard.

Instead of living in a mound, Nuno in Trese is more urban, who lives in the sewers, often appearing from under a manhole cover to talk to Alexandra.

“Tabi-Tabi po” is a polite way of saying “excuse me” or “pardon me” which is uttered as a form of respect to supernatural beings like the nuno when entering an unfamiliar place.

If one wants to get a favor or doesn’t want an earth elemental to bother him, he must give the entity something sweet.

Trese bribed Nuno with the chocolate-peanut candy to acquire information related to her case. Trese investigates the occult cases in Metro Manila. The Filipino mythical creatures live hidden among the human population where they either adapt or cause chaos.

In this era of fake news and historical revisionism, perhaps Choc Nut is the answer.

( Peyups  is the monicker of University of the Philippines. Atty. Dennis R. Gorecho heads the seafarers’ division of the Sapalo Velez Bundang Bulilan law offices. For comments, email [email protected], or call 09175025808 or 09088665786).

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