Chocolate: Interesting facts and figures

With Easter this coming Sunday here at UKVending we are thinking a lot about chocolate. So, it came as no surprise when we discovered lots of interesting facts about the sweet stuff.

The scientific name for the tree that chocolate comes from, Theobroma cacao, means “food of the gods.”

The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves, which triggers relaxation.

Chocolate has over 600 flavour compounds, while red wine has 200.

It takes approximately 400 cacao beans to make one pound (450 gr.) of chocolate.

Chocolate is the only edible substance to melt around 32°C (90°F), just below human body temperature. That’s why chocolate melts in your mouth.

Chocolate bars generally have less than 10 milligrams of caffeine, but the darker the chocolate, the higher the caffeine content.

According to the International Cocoa Organization, Europeans account for almost half the world’s chocolate consumption. They estimate the average Brit, Swiss, or German eat 11 kilograms (24 pounds) of chocolate a year.

In celebration of its 100th birthday, Thorntons created the world’s largest chocolate bar – weighing a record breaking 5,792.50 kilograms (12,770 pounds

The English chocolate company Cadbury made the first chocolate bar in the world in 1842.

The inventor of the Chocolate Chip Cookie sold the idea to Nestle Toll House for $1 in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate.

M&Ms were created in 1941 as a means for soldiers to enjoy chocolate without it melting.

Nutella was invented during WWII, when an Italian pastry maker mixed hazelnuts into chocolate to extend his cocoa supply.

So many Toblerone bars are sold each year that, if they were to be laid end to end, they would go on for 62,000 kilometers (38,525 miles) which longer than the circumference of the Earth.

Milky Way candy bars are not named after the galaxy. The name came from the malted milkshakes whose flavour they originally intended to mimic.