Per capita, Americans eat an
average of 12.2 pounds of chocolate each year.
Chocolate manufacturers
currently use 40 percent of the world's almonds and 20 percent of the
world's peanuts.
CMA (Chocolate Manufacturers
Association) members use about 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every
day to make chocolates.
The melting point of cocoa
butter is just below the human body temperature which is why it
literally melts in your mouth.
Switzerland has the highest per
capita consumption of chocolate in the world at 22.4 pounds.
That a one-ounce piece of milk
chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of
decaffeinated coffee.
That not all saturated fats
raise blood cholesterol levels. The form of fat found in chocolate,
cocoa butter, does not raise blood cholesterol levels even though it is
saturated. That's because cocoa butter is derived from plants, cacao
trees; whereas other types of saturated fats are derived from animals.
That most people are not
allergic to chocolate. A resent study showed that only one out of 500
people who thought they were allergic to chocolate actually tested
positive.
The retail chocolate industry in
the U.S. is worth $13 billion per year.
The first "chocolate box" was
introduced by Richard Cadbury in 1868, when he decorated a candy box
with a painting of his young daughter holding a kitten in her arms.
Chocolate manufacturers use 40%
of the world's almonds, 20% of the world's peanuts and 8% of the world's sugar.
Chocolate syrup was used to represent blood in the famous 45 second shower scene
in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, "Psycho" a scene which took 7 days
to shoot.
Once upon a time, money did grow on trees. Cocoa beans were used as currency
by the Mayan and Aztec civilizations over 1400 years ago. When they had
too much money to spend, they brewed the excess into hot chocolate drinks.
The Swiss consume more chocolate per capita than any other nation on earth.
That's 22 pounds each compared to 11 pounds per person in the United States.
Rumor has it that Napoleon carried chocolate with him on all his military campaigns
for a quick energy snack.
The word "chocolate" comes from the Aztec word "xocolatl",
which means "bitter water".
The amount of caffeine in chocolate is lower than most people think. A 1.4
ounce piece of milk chocolate contains about the same amount of caffeine
as a cup of decaffeinated coffee. There is an average of 6 mg. of caffeine
in both an ounce of milk chocolate and a cup of decaffeinated coffee,
while a cup of regular coffee contains between 65 and 150 mg. of caffeine.
Christopher Columbus is said to have brought chocolate back to Europe after he visited South America in about 1504 but it only reached Britain in the 17th century. At the time it was made into a drink - but only for the wealthy, because of high import duties.
British people are second only to the Swiss when it comes to chocolate consumption. The average Brit eats 8.6kg a year - more than 3kg ahead of the Americans but still 1.6kg behind the Swiss.
Continental chocolate enthusiasts have waged a 25-year battle to stop Britain and
Ireland calling home-produced confectionery "milk chocolate" because of its 5% vegetable fat content - they want the British bars to be called "vegelate" instead.
The debate over British chocolate also focuses on the proportion of cocoa solids in each bar. Continental plain chocolate commonly contains 70% cocoa solids as opposed to around 35% in the British version. The more cocoa - the more expensive the chocolate generally is.
Some health experts say the purer the chocolate, the better it is for you. Chocolate with a cocoa content of more than 50% is high in magnesium and contains calcium, potassium, sodium and iron. It also has vitamins A1, B1, B2, C, D and E.
The cocoa bean contains a substance called theobromine, similar to caffeine, and phenylethyline, a close relative of amphetamine.
Low fat chocolate bars have more than trebled their share of the market in the last five years as weight conscious chocolate lovers search for a happy compromise. Brits tucked into 5,000 tonnes of low fat chocolate last year, compared with 1,200 tonnes in 1993. Women are the prime targets of the manufacturers of low fat chocolate.
One plain milk chocolate candy bar has
more protein than a banana.
Chocolate contains a limited quantity of
salt.
American and Russian space flights have
always included chocolate.
Venezuela was the site of the first cocoa
plantations.
The first chocolate box was introduced by
Cadbury.