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Mint Chocolate Chip Is The 10th Most Popular Flavor Ice Cream

mint day

Recognized by the US National Confectioners Association, National Chocolate Mint Day is observed annually across the nation on February 19th.  This holiday has been set aside for all the chocolate mint lovers to eat their favorite treats all day long.

The Aztecs and Mayans are given much credit for their ways with chocolate, and while chocolate was brought back to Europeans, they were not fond of the dark, bitter bean, and it was used more for medicinal purposes.

As it was mostly consumed as a hot beverage, Europeans mixed mint, cinnamon and other spices to make it more palatable.  Over time, sugar was added, and the combination of chocolate and mint became fashionable.

Fast forward to the mid-1800s when inventions and improvements in processes made it possible for confectioners to begin mass producing chocolates.  Even then, small candy shops served a local public.  Advertisements for mint chocolates, or chocolate mints, did not start showing up in newspapers until the turn of the century.

The International Dairy Foods Association states that mint chocolate chip is the 10th most popular flavor of ice cream.

One of the earliest mass-producers of chocolate mints was Huyler’s in New York, which had a chain of stores across the country.

Today we find mint chocolate in everything from ice cream to brownies, cookies and candies, liquors and sauces.

Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies were first sold in 1953 and are still their most popular cookie.

Mint chocolate is also the name of an herb with edible leaves that taste like chocolate and mint.

  1. Peppermint is the number 1 selling flavor among non-chocolate, hard candies.
  2. Ancient Greeks believed mint could cure hiccups.
  3. The most common mint flavors are peppermint and spearmint, but there are more than 20 types of mints growing around the world.
  4. Mint’s essential oils are used in perfume, cosmetics, air fresheners, drink flavorings, candies and medications.
  5. The US produces 70% of the Worlds peppermint and spearmint.
  6. Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry are among the top 5
  7. Did you know it takes about 50 licks to finish an ice cream cone (not chocolate mint related, but definitely an interesting fact)
  8. Thin Mint cookies, created by the girl scouts was created in 1953
  9. Peppermint oil is produced by specialized cells on the underside of the leaves.
  10. The best time to harvest and collect the oil is on a sunny day as flowering is just beginning. This is when menthol is at its peak.
  11. Peppermint plants grow to be 18 – 36 inches tall and about 24 inches wide.
  12. Peppermint is the number 1 selling flavor among non-chocolate, hard candies.
  13. Ancient Greeks believed mint could cure hiccups
  14. Peppermint has been used in Eastern and Western traditional medicine as an aromatic, antispasmodic, and antiseptic in treating indigestion, nausea, sore throat, colds, toothaches, cramps, and cancers.
  15. Peppermint is the most extensively used volatile oil, both commercially and medicinally.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Joy of Kosher

Special Days of the Month

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