16 amazing facts that make chocolate taste even better

Chocolate. The Valentines day gift that never fails. Better than kissing, exercise or love they say. But how much do you really know about chocolate? One minute it’s bad for us, the next it’s good – so how can you be sure? Why exactly does it taste and feel so good? We don’t have all the answers unfortunately, but what we do have is a tasty list of chocolate facts to help you work up an appetite. Enjoy!

1. Since it contains no cocoa, white chocolate isn’t technically chocolate. Gutted? We are…
2. Taken from the scientific name Theobroma Cacao, cocoa literally means ‘food of the gods’
3. Research indicates that eating dark chocolate every day can reduce your risk of heart disease by a third. You can say goodbye to that apple-a-day!
4. M&Ms were invented during WWII as a way for soldiers to enjoy chocolate without it melting
5. Also invented during the war is the famous Nutella spread. It began life as an experimental way to make rationed chocolate go further by adding hazelnuts. Good job, we say!
6. The world record for the largest bar of chocolate is held by English chocolatiers Thorntons for their super-sized bar weighing 5,792Kg. Don’t eat it all at once, eh?
7. For around 90% of its history, chocolate has been consumed as a drink. It wasn’t until 1847 that Joseph Fry discovered that you could make it solid by adding cacao butter.
8. The ancient Aztecs are known to have prized chocolate very highly. So much so, that you could buy a slave for 100 cocoa beans.
9. To grow enough pods to make half a kilo of cocoa – enough for about 10 bars of chocolate – takes one tree nearly a whole year.
10. Chocolate contains caffeine. And sometimes more than you think, with certain dark chocolates containing as much per pound as Coca Cola.
11. The most expensive bar of chocolate ever sold was during an auction in 2001, when a 100 year old bar of Cadbury’s chocolate went under the hammer for a whopping $687
12. The mere smell of chocolate increases theta wave activity in the brain, which triggers relaxation
13. A 2013 experiment in a book shop demonstrated that the smell of chocolate made customers 40% more likely to buy romance or cookery titles, and 22% more likely to buy any other kind of book
14. Dark chocolate is high in antioxidants which are known to help reduce blood pressure
15. Enough Toblerones are sold each year that if you laid them end to end they would reach around the equator
16. 15% of 15-24 year olds claim that a life without chocolate isn’t worth living!

So now you know all that’s worth knowing about your favourite food, why not share this article with your friends before treating yourself to a nice guilt-free square or two of your favourite chocolate.