Ah, chocolate. Perhaps one of the best foods in the entire world, it has been enjoyed for centuries upon centuries. Some things about chocolate may surprise you. For instance, just the aroma of chocolate can calm us down and enhance relaxation. And just one pound of chocolate requires a whopping 400 cacao beans, so please, savor the flavor!
Maybe you prefer a chocolate bar, or perhaps M&Ms are your favorite. Did you know they originated from a desire to allow soldiers to enjoy chocolate with the risk of it melting in their pockets? Read on for more tasty tidbits!
Sweet Facts About Chocolate
1 Americans Eat Something in Moderation, Relatively Speaking
Americans eat about 10 pounds of chocolate per person per year, but in Europe that figure is even higher!
2 Psycho Cocoa
The famous shower scene in Hitchcock’s Psycho used chocolate syrup for the blood!
3 Aztec Toughness
The Aztec emperor Montezuma drank ample amounts of chili hot chocolate every day.
4 Chocolate Isn’t Vegan?!
The FDA estimates that your average chocolate bar contains a few insect parts, but it’s totally safe.
5 Death by Chocolate
Chocolate contains theobromine; overdosing on theobromine can cause death, seizures, or heart failure.
6 Origins of the Chocolate Chip Cookie
This favorite cookie was created when Ruth Wakefield screwed up her chocolate cookie recipe.
7 Big Chunk of Chocolate
The world’s largest chocolate bar weighed in at 5,792.50 kilograms!
8 What’s the Deal With White Chocolate?
The verdict: it’s not real chocolate because it’s made with cocoa butter, not cocoa liquor/solids.
9 Cacao Beans Were Money
Way back when the ancient Maya inhabited Mexico, chocolate was used as currency.
10 Willy Wonka’s Chocolate River
That chocolate river was real and took 15,000 gallons of a chocolate and water mixture.
Video: The History of Chocolate
In this fascinating video, Deanna Pucciarelli traces the fascinating and often cruel history of chocolate. If you can’t imagine life without chocolate, you’re lucky you weren’t born before the 16th century. Until then, chocolate only existed as a bitter, foamy drink in Mesoamerica. So how did we get from a bitter beverage to the chocolate bars of today?
Related: Fun Facts about the Three Musketeers Candy Bar
I’m Natalie Garcia and I started this website to share my love of trivia, facts and fun knowledge tidbits. We cover things like celebrity gossip, historical facts, tv shows, world leaders and just odd and random fun things. I started this site to have some fun with my hobby and share some useful information with you, our community. Please feel to send me your suggestions and feedback through the contact form. And if you have suggestions for things to write about, please shoot me a message!
