Chocolate Facts

Here are some really interesting facts about one of the world's most popular, delicious, fabulous and lovable thing i.e. CHOCOLATE!!!

Hope you will like these facts.

Mexican Emperor Montezuma partook a Chocolate drink before entering his harem. This gave rise to the notion of Chocolate having aphrodisiac properties.

Napoleon supposedly carried along Chocolate on his military campaigns, and always ate it to restore energy.

The word 'Chocolate' comes from the Aztec word, 'cacahuatl' or ‘xocolatl’. The literal meaning is 'bitter water'.

The biggest bar of chocolate ever created was made it Italy in 2000. It weighed more than 5000 lbs.

Chocolate is derived from Cocoa Beans.

Cocoa was spelled cacao originally, but became cOcOA as a result of misspelling.

Cocoa Trees require warm, moist climates. Thus these trees are largely found in West Africa - Ghana, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria.

The scientific term for the Cocoa Tree is 'Theobroma Cacao'. This is a Greek term which means 'Food for the Gods'.

Chocolate syrup was used for blood in the famous shower scene in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, "Psycho". This scene, which is of 45 seconds, reportedly took 7 days to shoot.

Recipe for the chocolate brownies was introduced in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook in 1896.

Chocolate Chips were introduced by Nestle in 1939.

As of recent estimations, annual worldwide consumption of cocoa beans averages about 600,000 tons a year.

As of recent estimations, people spend  more than $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate.

Did you know chocolate is made to melt in your mouth, cocoa butter has a melting point that is just below the average human body temperature?

Chocolate can be deadly for dogs. Chocolate contains an ingredient called "Theobromine" which can be toxic to a dogs central nervous system and cardiac muscles and can cause death.

As of recent estimations, about 23 million Hershey Kisses are produced everyday.

The Mayans and Aztecs believed that the Cocoa Beans originated from Paradise and would bring wisdom and power to anyone consuming them. Nice reason for having more chocolate, ain't it?

The precious Cocoa Beans were once used as a currency and as a unit of calculation in the Mayan and Aztec Cultures.

Cocoa Beans were first brought to Europe by the Spanish Conquistadors in 1528.

Henri Nestle of Switzerland was the first to create Milk Chocolate by adding condensed milk to the mixture when making chocolate bars.

First ever bar of chocolate was produced by Cadbury's in England, way back in 1842.

It takes about 400 cacao beans to make one pound of chocolate.

Rudolphe Lindt of Switzerland was the first to develop a method to give Chocolate a smooth consistency. This was done in 1879.

The oldest known civilization of the Americas (1500 - 400 B.C.), The Olmecs, were probably the first users of cacao.

In the 17th Century, the first recorded case of “Death by Chocolate” occurred.

Chocolate has great health benefits. It helps with depression, high blood pressure, Tumors and Pre-menstrual syndromes.

Aztec Indians believed chocolate to be an aphrodisiac. Aphrodisiac can be any substance which assumingly increases sexual desire.