Friday, September 14, 2007

International Chocolate Day!

Yesterday was International Chocolate Day!

I’m a day late, but I still want to celebrate. Whether you like Hershey, Cadbury, Godiva, Ghirardelli, or Lindt, not many of us will deny the love affair we have with chocolate. The good news is that dark chocolate, my personal favorite, contains antioxidants and iron, which are both good for us.

So go out and treat yourself to a piece of good chocolate today. You’ll be glad you did!

Some interesting facts about chocolate:

*In 1849 during the “Gold Rush” of San Francisco, Dominbro Ghirardelli of Italy began making chocolate. His original factory still stands at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco, CA.

*In 1875, Milk Chocolate was introduced. After over eight (8) years of experimentation, Daniel Peter of Switzerland created this concoction. He sold his creation to his neighbor, Henri Nestle, and thus Nestle Chocolate came into being.

*In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt, the founder of Lindt Chocolates, invented the process of “Conching” which is used to refine chocolate thus enhancing it’s quality.

*In 1896, the recipe for chocolate brownies, an American snack food staple, was introduced in the Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

*In 1907, the iconic Milk Chocolate Hershey's Kisses were introduced. They are one of the most successful chocolates and Hershey produces approximately 20-25 million per day in a variety of flavors.

*In 1939, Nestle introduced Chocolate Chips.

*Americans eat an average of twenty two (22) pounds of candy each year, or approximately 2.8 BILLION pounds annually, split almost equally between candy and chocolate. That is far less than most Europeans consume.

*The American palette prefers milk chocolate, approximately ninety two (92) percent, but dark chocolate's popularity is growing rapidly.

*American chocolate manufacturers use about 1.5 billion pounds of milk only surpassed by the cheese and ice cream industries. They also consume approximately 3,500,000 pounds of whole milk.

*Chocolate manufacturers currently use forty (40) % of the world's almonds and twenty (20) % of the world's peanuts.

*As of 2006, consumers spent more than $7,000,000 a year on chocolate related products.

http://www.candyfavorites.com/shop/chocolate-trivia.php

7 comments:

Cathy M said...

Chocolate and coffee can get me thru anything. Thanks for all the fun facts NJ.

charleneteglia said...

Mmm, chocolate! I'm eating my share. *g*

Lori said...

facts is just facts. just give me the chocolate and nobody dies :)

N.J.Walters said...

I agree, Cathy. Chocolate can get you through some pretty bad times.

Anything for the holiday. Right, Charli. *g*

LOL Ah, chocolate. Brings out our basic instincts. Right, Lori. :-)

Unknown said...

=O

How could I have not known it was international chocolate day?!!

Tempest Knight said...

It was?! Dang... and I missed it!!! Not that I needed another excuse to eat chocolate. *LOL*

N.J.Walters said...

I know. I missed it too, Samantha. But I ate some chocolate to console myself. *g*

Eat some chocolate today in celebration, Tempest!