Every time a piece of chocolate is place in ones mouth, the joy that comes from it is just immeasurable. Often we deny ourselves that one extra piece because chocolate is one of the most addictive piece of food ever created!
“One more”, a child would quip when he has tasted chocolate for the first time.
Do you know that chocolate was actually developed and used by the Olmee Indians as far back as 1500 B.C.? They were the first group of people this planet to smash up cocoa beans and use them as a food source. How would be like chocolate to be our food source today, compared to beans, grain and potatoes! The children would surely be envious of the Olmee Indians’ children if they ever heard of this.
Having said that, this means that chocolate is over 3500 years old!
Knowing that chocolate is that ancient; do you know that chocolate has evolved a lot since then? Ever wonder what goes into each and every rectangle piece of chocolate that goes into our mouth?
The facts might be startling, but it is clear that the production of chocolate in our world today uses up to 40% of the world’s almonds (Yay! Almond lovers) and 20% of the world’s peanuts (the rest must have went into peanut butters). But chocolate aren’t just made out of almonds and peanuts, the main ingredient, milk, is also used to produce those milky pieces. 3.5 MILLION pounds of whole milk is used EVERY day to make chocolate. To show how much milk is used, an average adult only drink 5 glasses of milk a day; which is equivalent to only 2.5 pounds of milk!
A recent study shows that the average American eats about 10-12 pounds (4.5kg) of chocolate a year. But that ranks them one of the lowest! The picture below shows how much 5 randomly selected European countries and their chocolate consumption in a year.
It clearly shows the obesity problem in the America is not caused by chocolate! (Fact: eating chocolate doesn’t cause obesity anyways)
Chocolate is craved by 9 out of every 10 persons and is the food most commonly craved by women. Thus, to every guy out there, buy a box of chocolate a gift for your girl-friends; you will never get it wrong.
To end this article on a high (literally), two facts about chocolate that we would not know unless told:
1. The largest candy bar ever made weighed over 5,000 pounds and it was made in Italy
2. The largest slab of fudge was over 2,000 pounds and was made in Canada
There we have it, chocolate facts you wish you didn’t know – so now while you are busy consuming that milky-rectangle-shaped-3500 years old chocolate in your mouth; you can boast about the facts above.
Images by Hannah Shilliday
