The Smell Of Chocolate Increases Theta Brain Waves, Which Triggers Relaxation (+45 More Facts)

National Chocolate Day

Chocolate didn’t find its way into the culinary repertoire of the western world until the Spanish learned of it from the Mayan people of Mesoamerica.

Once they discovered chocolate, the Spanish actually kept the new substance to themselves for many years.

• In 1579 a Spanish vessel was attacked by English Pirates, finding it full of cocoa beans. Being unfamiliar with the delicious substance, they set fire to the vessel thinking they had conquered a vessel full of sheep droppings. The Spanish fell in love with the substance and were the first to start adding sugar to it.
• In 1829 the cocoa press was invented, and with it came solid chocolate. This invention was intended to bring chocolate to the world, bringing it out of th exclusive province of the wealthy. Instead, it created a whole new type of chocolate and changed the nature of desserts forever.
• In 1847 the first chocolate bar was invented, and it’s 1000-year history as a substance consumed only as a liquid came to an end.
• 1875 saw the creation of milk chocolate, and every innovation from there on out has gone towards making chocolate richer, creamier, and more delicious than ever. It is this initial bar and everything after that Chocolates Day celebrates.
• Chocolate comes from the Aztec word “xocolatl” which means “bitter water”.
• Switzerland is one of the top countries for chocolate consumption. The Swiss consume about 22 lbs of chocolate, per person, per year.
• Cocoa beans were used as currency by the Mayan and Aztec cultures. Perhaps this is where they saying “Money grows on trees” came from.
• Allowing chocolate to melt in your mouth produces the same or even stronger reactions as passionately kissing.
• 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.
• Rudolph Lindt designed the first conching machine, its bed curved like a conch shell.
• Cote d’Ivoire is the single largest producer of cocoa, providing roughly 40 percent of the world’s supply.
• Benjamin Franklin sold chocolate in his print shop in Philadelphia.
• Cacao beans were so valuable to early Mesoamericans that they were used as currency.
• November, Germans celebrate St. Martin–a knight who shared his cloak with a beggar–with a lantern-lit parade, sweets and steaming hot chocolate.In
• Spanish royalty gave cakes of cacao in their dowries.
• The Aztec emperor Montezuma drank 50 cups of cacao a day from a golden chalice.
• It takes two to four days to make a single-serving chocolate bar.
• Chocolate contains two doses of cocoa butter—the natural amount from the bean, plus an extra dollop to bump up creaminess.
• Champagne and sparkling wines are too acidic to pair well with milk or dark chocolate. Try pairing a sweet bubbly with white chocolate and red wine with dark. In general you want to match the sweetness level of the wine with the sweetness level of the chocolate.
• German chocolate cake was named for Sam German, who developed a sweet bar for Baker’s Chocolate–and was not from Germany.
• The French celebrate April Fool’s Day with chocolate-shaped fish, or “Poisson d’Avril.”
• Chocolate has over 600 flavor compounds while red wine has just 200.
• Chocolate milk is an effective post work-out recovery drink
• Dr. James Baker and John Hannon founded their chocolate company—later called Walter Baker Chocolate—in 1765. That’s where the term “Baker’s Chocolate” comes from, not to denote chocolate that’s just meant for cooking.
• M&Ms were created in 1941 as a means for soldiers to enjoy chocolate without it melting.
• Every second, Americans collectively eat 100 pounds of chocolate.
• Eating dark chocolate every day reduces the risk of heart disease by one-third
• Chocolate has an anti-bacterial effect on the mouth and protects against tooth decay.
• A lethal dose of chocolate for a human being is about 22 lbs., or 40 Hershey bars.
• The average chocolate bar contains 8 insect parts.
• There’s a pill that makes farts smell like chocolate.
• Nutella was invented during WW2, when an Italian pastry maker mixed hazelnuts into chocolate to extend his cocoa supply.
• When it Comes to Coughs, Chocolate Is More Effective than Codeine.
• How you serve food and drink matters in the perception of taste. Hot chocolate tastes better in orange cups, scientists found.
• There is a correlation between the amount of chocolate a country consumes on average and the number of Nobel Laureates that country has produced.
• A jewel thief made off with $28 million dollars of gems in 2007 because he was able to gain the trust of the guards working the bank in Antwerp, Belgium, by repeatedly offering them chocolate.
• Hershey’s Kisses got their name from the kissing sound the machine that deposits the chocolate on the conveyor belt makes.
• Hershey’s makes 70 million Kisses every day, and enough annually to make a 300,000-mile-long line of Kisses.
• Milky Way candy bars are not named after the galaxy. The name came from the malted milkshakes whose flavor they originally intended to mimic.
• Three Musketeers bars were originally three pieces to a package, in chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors. They switched to just the one chocolate bar after the price of strawberries increased.
• Chocolate milk was invented in Jamaica. Irish botanist Sir Hans Sloane is usually given credit for mixing chocolate with milk when he was in Jamaica in the early 1700s, though it’s likely he wasn’t the first person on the island to do so.
• Americans buy more than 58 million pounds of chocolate on Valentine’s Day every year, making up 5% of sales for the entire year.
• The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves, which triggers relaxation.

Sources:

Days of the Year

Foodimentary

Candy USA

Righteously Raw Chocolate

Mental Floss

Factslides

Buzz Feed