- 5th Century – Aztecs loved their newly discovered liquid chocolate to the extent that they believed Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, literally bestowed it upon them.
- 13th Century – Taking the love of chocolate to the next level, Aztecs use cacao beans as a currency.
- 16th Century – Once chocolate turned sweet — in 16th-century Europe — the masses caught on and turned chocolate into a powerhouse treat.
- 1609 – As the love for chocolate increases in Europe, a book is published in Mexico that is dedicated entirely to chocolate, “Libro en el cual se trata del chocolate
- 1765 – The first chocolate factory opened in the US. Dr. James Baker and John Hannon start a chocolate factory in Massachusetts
- 1828 – Dutch chemist Coenraad Van Houten invented a hydraulic press that could separate the cocoa butter from the cacao, thereby producing a powder. This led to the first chocolate confections
- 1847 – The first modern chocolate bar was created by Joseph Fry in 1847 after he discovered that he could create a moldable chocolate paste.
- 1868 – Cadbury started in England
- 1875 – Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter joins forces with M. Henri Nestlé, then a baby food manufacturer who had invented a milk-condensation process. Together they found a way to bring milk chocolate onto the market. They would go on to form the Nestlé company.
- 1907 – Milton Hershey builds a park to create a more pleasant environment for workers and residents — striving to rise above typical factory towns of the time. The original main buildings, including a rustic bandstand and pavilion, serve as a stage for vaudeville and theatre productions.
- 1938 – Wakefield’s cookbook includes the recipe for the ‘Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie.’
- Chocolate is technically a vegetable. Chocolate comes from the cacao bean, which grows on the cacao tree.
- As it contains no cocoa solids, white chocolate isn’t chocolate.
- Chocolate helps you lose weight. A study revealed that ingestion of dark chocolate prior to eating at an all-you-can-eat buffet triggered a 17% lower calorie intake for participants! It’s all about the sugar.
- Chocolate can help your heart. Per the American Heart Association: “Combining raw almonds, dark chocolate and cocoa significantly reduced the number of low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, particles in the blood of overweight and obese people. LDL is often called “bad cholesterol” because of the role it plays in clogging arteries.
- Cocoa butter is the processed fat from the cocoa bean. Skincare products also include cocoa butter. Its fatty acids are touted as good for your skin.
- $10,000 — the price of Swarovski-studded chocolates.
- $260 — the price of a 1.76-ounce To’ak chocolate bar.
- 400 — the number of cacao beans it takes to make one pound of chocolate.
- 8 — the number of years it took to perfect the recipe for milk chocolate.
- 90 million — the number of chocolate Easter bunnies manufactured every year.
- 36 million — the number of heart-shaped chocolate boxes sold every Valentine’s Day.
- 1847 — the year when British confectioners invented the first chocolate bar.
- 20% — the percentage of all dark chocolate consumed in the U.S.
- 1700s — the decade when chocolate milk was created in Jamaica.
- 22 pounds — the amount of chocolate that would need to be eaten to kill a person.
Data gathered by a top Minneapolis Marketing Agency
Sources:
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