On July 28th dive into the ever-popular National Milk Chocolate Day. When it comes to chocolate, this sweet easily pleases.
- Solid chocolate, when combined with either powdered, liquid or condensed milk, is known as milk chocolate.
- While candy bar makers use milk chocolate to make their most popular candy bars, the treat isn’t the healthiest of the chocolates. With added sugar and fat, milk chocolate packs on the calories.
- In fact, we’ve been adding milk to chocolate beverages since the mid-17th century. But, in 1875 Daniel Peter invented milk chocolate by mixing a powdered milk developed by Henri Nestlé with the liquor.
- More than 50 percent of adults in the US prefer chocolate to any other flavor.
- Americans eat 2.8 billion pounds of candy annually. About half of it is chocolate.
- The word chocolate comes from “Xocolatl,” the Aztec word that means “bitter water.”
- Eating chocolate can help prevent tooth decay and works as an anti-bacterial agent.
- The Ivory Coast produces more cocoa than any country in the world which makes for 37 percent of it.
- Spain introduced milk chocolate to Europe for the first time in the 1600s and the first commercial milk chocolate bars were produced by Cadbury’s in England in the mid 1800s. Cadbury’s is still considered as the manufacturer of some of the best milk chocolates to date!
- Though not as rich in antioxidants as dark chocolate, milk chocolates do trigger the release of endorphins when eaten in a moderate quantity. A rush of endorphins lead to an instant lifting of the mood and induces a positive feeling which can be described as being somewhere more than satisfaction and falling just a little short of euphoric ecstasy.
- The Mayans and Aztecs,who invented chocolate, held chocolate and cocoa beans in such high regard that these beans were used as currency and as a calculation unit by these civilizations!
- One of the most interesting dark chocolate facts is that its high antioxidant content is a great catalyst that works towards reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and cancer.
- Remember the famous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho that assumed cult status among movies belonging to the psychological horror-thriller genre? Well, the blood that was shown is that scene was nothing but chocolate syrup!
- The ageless love affair between women and chocolate is legendary and the feminine partiality towards this dark, bittersweet indulgence is what has given rise to speculations of chocolate being among primary aphrodisiacs for women!
- It takes 400 cocoa beans to make one pound of chocolate.
- Research to date supports that chocolate can be enjoyed as part of a balanced, heart-healthy diet and lifestyle.
- The average serving of milk chocolate has about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaf coffee.
- Chocolate comes from a fruit tree; it’s made from a seed.
- Theobroma Cacao is the tree that produces cocoa beans, and it means “food of the gods.” Carolus Linnaeus, the father of plant taxonomy, named it.
- Benjamin Franklin sold chocolate in his print shop in Philadelphia.
- It takes two to four days to make a single-serving chocolate bar.
- German chocolate cake was named for Sam German, who developed a sweet bar for Baker’s Chocolate–and was not from Germany.
- The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves, which triggers relaxation.
- White Chocolate isn’t technically Chocolate, as it contains no cocoa solids or cocoa liquor.
- M&Ms were created in 1941 as a means for soldiers to enjoy chocolate without it melting
- 100 pounds of chocolate are eaten in the U.S. every second.
- Eating dark chocolate every day reduces the risk of heart disease by one-third.
- A lethal dose of chocolate for a human being is about 22 lbs., or 40 Hershey bars
- There’s a pill that makes farts smell like chocolate.
- Chocolate is the only edible substance to melt around 93° F, just below human body temperature. That’s why chocolate melts in your mouth.
- Scientists can reducethe fat in chocolate by 20% by passing it through an electric field.
- For most of its 4,000-year history, Chocolate was actually consumed as a bitter beverage rather than as a sweet edible treat.
- Hershey’s Makes 70 Million Kisses a Day.
- Hershey’s Kisses got their Name from the Sound the Machine Makes
- According to the History Channel, the world’s first chocolate bar dates all the way back to 1847. It was created by Joseph Fry with the help of his son, and they made it with cocoa butter, cocoa powder, and sugar.
- The Natural History Museum found that chocolate milk was invented in Jamaica by Irish botanist Sir Hans Sloane. The natives of the land gave him straight cocoa to drink, but could only stomach it when he mixed it with milk, according to the museum’s research.
- A study published by Medicine and Sports Science found that chocolate milk can actually help athletes recover faster after exercise. The study noted that this could be due to the drink’s high protein and carb ratio. It’s so beneficial after exercising that it’s actually one of the 16 Post-Workout Snacks Fitness Experts Swear By.
- Americans Buy More than 58 Million Pounds of Chocolate During Valentine’s Day
- The Brussels Airport is the Biggest Chocolate Seller in the World. The airport’s website reports that they are the biggest seller of chocolate around the globe. They sell about 800 tons of Belgian chocolate per year.
- Snickers is Actually Named After a Horse
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