Health

We all love chocolate, and some of us probably eat it daily or... at least a couple times a week. It's one of the world's most loved foods, and some might say they can't live without chocolate!

However, then how and from what it is prepared and where the raw materials for this wonderful product are obtained, few know. We invite you to learn a lot of interesting things about chocolate; perhaps some facts will seem very strange to you.

1) Use of slave labor on cocoa farms

Fact:Cocoa plantations use child slave labor

Have you ever wondered where the raw materials for chocolate production come from? It turns out that most of the cocoa beans, from which chocolate is later obtained, are produced on illegal farms that use child labor. According to some estimates, in Africa alone, plantations work from 56 to 72 million children.

These children are usually lured to farms by cunning, or are sold into slavery by their own parents, who have nothing to feed them. All their lives, from an early age, they have to work for the owner of the plantation.

According to the stories of one child, he was lured to work by promising to pay money so that he could help his family survive, but instead of money he received only beatings. This child will never I haven’t tried the product for which I grew the raw materials.

Some of us choose to buy only fair trade products, but fair trade products are only a drop in the ocean of the world market. Unfortunately, most of what we eat is obtained through sweat and blood and in a far from honest way.

2) What is chocolate made from?

Fact:Most chocolate bars contain only a small proportion of real chocolate.

Chocolate is first prepared based on cocoa powder, which is obtained from cocoa beans. In some countries there are no standards for the production of dark chocolate, only milk or semi-sweet chocolate. Moreover, in different countries oh maybe completely different standards, which is why chocolate brought from different countries has completely different tastes.

For example, in the UK chocolate products contain quite large percentage grated cocoa. IN THE USA milk chocolate contains total 10 percent cocoa, and semi-sweet - 25 percent.

Despite such a small cocoa content, this ingredient plays the most important role, thanks to him, chocolate has exactly this unique taste. The more grated cocoa in a product, the more bitter it is. This is why dark rich chocolate is sometimes called bitter chocolate.

I wonder what White chocolate contains no cocoa liquor at all., but only cocoa butter and other ingredients, the main ones being powdered milk and sugar.

3) Milk chocolate

Fact:Milk chocolate was invented relatively recently

Dark chocolate- quite a popular product, but milk chocolate– is perhaps the most popular, especially children love it. I wonder what before 1875 There was no such thing as milk chocolate in the world.

The first European invention related to chocolate was special recipe, which was named Dutch cocoa. IN chocolate mass only half of the cocoa butter was left and mixed with salts to soften the bitter taste. Milk chocolate was invented by a man named Nestlé when he added Dutch cocoa powder sweet condensed milk.

4) Chocolate money

Fact:The Aztecs and Mayans used chocolate as currency

The history of chocolate began in ancient times heyday of the Mayan civilization. Cocoa beans were so valuable that the Mayans began to use them as money. For example, for 10 beans one could “buy” a rabbit or even hire a prostitute.

The ancient Mayans bought a slave for a hundred cocoa beans.. When the Aztecs came to the Mayan territories, they adopted these traditions from them and also began to use cocoa beans as currency. In exchange for beans, one could buy anything, from food and tools and ending with cattle.

At the same time, the first counterfeit “money” began to appear: instead of cocoa beans, they put clay fakes. Thus, only rich people could afford to regularly make and drink drinks from cocoa beans, ordinary people It was expensive to spend money on drink.

5) Antioxidants

Fact:Chocolate is rich in antioxidants and is very healthy

Recent studies have shown that chocolate contains flavonoids. Certain flavonoids found in chocolate are called flavonols And procyanidins. They are very good for the heart, help prevent the development of cancer.

It is important to note that the higher the cocoa content in chocolate products, the more benefits. Studies have shown that only dark chocolate can lower blood pressure, and it is not recommended to drink it with milk, as this spoils the positive effect.

6) Theobromine

Fact:Chocolate contains caffeine, as well as a lesser known substance - theobromine alkaloid.

Chocolate contains more theobromine than anywhere else. Theobromine is somewhat similar to caffeine, but it the stimulating effect is slightly weaker. Some preliminary studies have shown that this substance helps suppress cough.

Theobromine has long been used to treat health problems such as high blood pressure , and scientists also suspect that he may help fight cancer. At high doses theobromine may cause poisoning, although elderly people and animals are usually sensitive to it. A healthy person should eat great amount chocolate so that his health would be damaged.

7) A special way of making chocolate among the Aztecs

Fact:Aztec rulers drank dozens of cups of chocolate a day and prepared it in a special way

Wealthy Aztecs and those in power drank huge amounts of cocoa daily. For example, it was mentioned that the Aztec ruler Montezuma(15th century) consumed daily 50 cups of chocolate! Moreover, he had a special recipe for cocoa, which has survived to this day.

Cocoa beans were roasted, then ground with corn grains, seasoned with agave juice with the addition of vanilla and honey. Montezuma loved to drink cocoa crispy cookies.

One regular cup of cocoa contains a small amount of caffeine, however, Aztec chocolate was very dark and must have contained quite a bit of this alkaloid. I wonder what The Aztecs didn't drink hot chocolate – they drank it chilled, and without sugar. The Spaniards began adding sugar to this drink.

The Aztecs ground roasted cocoa beans, poured water over them, and then added chili pepper and other spices. They poured the drink from one cup to another until foam formed, which was considered the most delicious part.

8) Chocolate production is in danger

Fact:There is a serious shortage of raw materials for chocolate production worldwide

Due to a disease affecting cocoa trees in Latin America, where most of these trees grow, the world is experiencing shortage of raw materials for chocolate production. The demand for chocolate is growing more and more every year, so it is becoming more and more difficult to satisfy the growing needs of chocolateaholics.

Fortunately, the disease that affects trees in Latin America has not yet reached Africa. However, shortage of raw materials may lead to significant increase in prices for chocolate products, if farmers cannot bring the spread of the disease under control.

Although cocoa trees in Africa are not affected by pests, they are are suffering from drought, which greatly complicates the situation.

9) The largest chocolate bar

Fact:Record chocolate bar weighed almost 6 tons

In 2011 in Chicago a huge slab of chocolate was made with a total weight of about 5.5 tons. To produce it it took approximately 800 kilograms cocoa butter and 600 kilograms cocoa powder.

This chocolate bar had to be taken around the country so that children would understand that “you need to eat wisely,” according to the organizers. However, this is unlikely to help children understand anything about proper nutrition rather, it was just an advertisement.

A little later this record was broken in England, in the county of Derbyshire, where an even larger chocolate bar was made - 5.8 tons. It took labor to produce it. 50 people. The authors of this masterpiece were inspired by history Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

This giant chocolate bar was split into small pieces and sold out to everyone. All profits from the sale went to charity.

Interesting Facts about chocolate

Sweet chocolate is going out of fashion. Before the introduction of the euro, manufacturers chocolate bar in Germany were limited by the price, which traditionally could not be higher than one mark. Buyers reacted extremely negatively to exceeding this price barrier. The price ceiling forced manufacturers to fully automate production in order to keep costs to a minimum. However, rationalization also has its physical limits.

The German company Alfred Ritter, in collaboration with Moscow confectioner Andrei Korkunov, has become a major player in the Russian chocolate market in just three years, successfully promoting its Ritter Sport brand there.

The catering industry has been offering chocolate fountains to special event organizers for decades. This pleasant device can also be ordered from us for many years, but the chocolate fountain is still positioned as one of the latest fashionable items.

Chocolate is good for blood vessels. Good news for chocolate lovers. Scientists have found that eating dark chocolate for at least the next three hours improves the functioning of cells, the functioning of which is important for maintaining the elasticity of blood vessels.

One mouse click uses 0.0000024 kcal of energy, so if you eat a chocolate bar, you will need to click 765551000 times to burn off all the calories.

Chocolate is deadly to dogs. Theobromine is a substance that stimulates the work of the heart muscle and central nervous system, - causes poisoning in dogs. 60 grams of milk chocolate can poison a puppy weighing 4.5 kg.

It is a misconception that chocolate contributes to the development of acne. Research has shown that even daily use chocolate has no effect on the appearance and course of this disease. Today, professional dermatologists do not in any way connect the occurrence of acne with diet.

While pure chocolate is known to be high in fat, only half the calories in dark chocolate and milk chocolate come from fat. And although cocoa butter contains mostly saturated fats, studies have shown that chocolate does not raise blood cholesterol levels.

Although chocolate is not an aphrodisiac (as the ancient Aztecs believed), it does contain phenylthylamine, a natural substance that causes the same process in the body that occurs when falling in love. This explains that unhappy love and loneliness often lead people to overeat chocolate.

30 grams of dark chocolate contains 5 to 10 mg of caffeine, milk chocolate contains 5 mg of caffeine, and a mug of cocoa contains 10 mg. For comparison, note that a mug of brewed coffee contains 100-150 mg of caffeine. To get as much caffeine as a mug of coffee, you would have to eat a dozen chocolate bars.

Chocolate melts at a temperature that is only slightly lower than body temperature. This is why chocolate melts so easily in your mouth;

Every day, 15% of women worldwide eat chocolate;

Switzerland loves chocolate most of all: the average resident of this country eats more than 10 kg. chocolate a year!

New York confectioners have created the world's tallest chocolate tower. For a tower 6 m 40 centimeters high, over 1 thousand kg of dark chocolate was needed, and construction took more than 30 hours;

The heaviest chocolate bar was made in Italy. His weight reached 2280 kilograms.

Cetas and cocoa fruits grow directly on the tree trunk. Every year several thousand flowers bloom on the tree, but only a few dozen of them become fruit.

To get a kilogram of cocoa powder you need 1200 beans, i.e. approximately 40 fruits.

Cocoa contains much more calories than coffee and tea, but its moderate consumption does not lead to problems with overweight. This happens because even a small amount of cocoa or chocolate dulls the feeling of hunger, and a person does not want to fill his stomach to capacity.

Cocoa and cocoa products help restore strength after hard work and are an excellent antidepressant. It’s not for nothing that the individual soldiers’ rations of the best armies in the world always include chocolate.

Cocoa and chocolate stimulate the production of the “hormone of happiness” - endorphin, which lifts your mood and reduces stress levels. It is interesting that endorphins are also produced in our body when communicating with loved ones, in the process of creativity and at the most successful moments in life.

The Aztecs believed that a drink made from cocoa beans stimulated potency. The same Montezuma II always drank several cups of “chocolatl” before going to his harem, in which he had as many as 600 wives. In Europe in the XVI-XVII centuries. hot chocolate was considered the best love potion. Even the legendary Casanova appreciated him extremely!

There is an opinion that chocolate is harmful to teeth. However, recent studies show that cocoa powder protects teeth from caries even better than fluoride, which is contained in many therapeutic toothpastes.

In Holland in 1910, a certain Ludwig van Dyck was sentenced to death. His last words were the following: “Drink Van Hutten’s cocoa!” The fact is that this company paid Van Dyck’s heirs well for such advertising and, as it turned out, they were right - cocoa sales skyrocketed.

Around the same time as chocolate, candy was invented. And they appeared thanks to the fact that the Egyptians accidentally mixed nuts, figs and honey.

The Englishman John Cadbury was the first to start making small, cheap chocolate bars to wean his compatriots from their addiction to beer.

The world's largest Easter cake was made in the Belgian city of Saint-Nicolas. chocolate egg, included in the Guinness Book of Records. Its dimensions are 8 meters 32 centimeters by 6 meters 39 centimeters. It took about 50 thousand chocolate bars to create the giant chocolate product. The previous record belonged to South Africans, who in 1996 made a chocolate egg 7 meters 65 centimeters high.

German psychologists conducted research and came to the conclusion that happy men love chocolate more than unhappy men. Men are more likely to eat chocolate after watching a fun movie. After a sad melodrama, they lose their appetite. Experiments with scary and aggressive pictures did not yield convincing results. This suggests that the link between chocolate and emotions goes deeper than the food's ability to alleviate depression. Scientists say that people eat chocolate not only when they want to improve their mood, but also when they are in a great mood.

In honor of the Spring Festival, a chocolate car was made in Shanghai life size. The confectioners, who worked for about 5 hours, spent about 37 kilograms of dark chocolate to make it. The chocolate car was decorated with colored icing and cream.

Popular in the United States, chocolate-chip cookies were invented in the 1930s, quite by accident. Ruth Wakefield, the owner of a small inn, wanted to bake chocolate-flavored butter cookies. To do this, she crushed a chocolate bar and mixed the chocolate pieces into the dough, thinking that the chocolate would melt and give the dough a brown color and chocolate taste. But the chocolate did not melt, so cookies with chocolate pieces appeared.

In Moscow, on City Day, workers from the Volshebnitsa factory set a record that was included in the Guinness Book of Records - they produced the world's largest chocolate bar, weighing 500 kilograms.

According to a sociological survey, women love chocolate more than men. Most of the fairer sex prefer dark chocolate, milk chocolate is in second place in preference, about 6% of women love white chocolate.

A new product has appeared on the Ukrainian market - a 30-gram bar called “Lard in Chocolate.” In addition to cocoa beans, sugar and flavorings, this product contains fat, alcohol and salt. Some people think that this is great snack to vodka.

Constant consumption of chocolate during pregnancy not only helps expectant mothers cope with depression, but also has a positive effect on the character of the newborn baby, making him cheerful and stress-resistant. This conclusion was reached by scientists from the University of Helsinki as a result of a study in which more than 300 women took part. Expectant mothers had to calculate how much chocolate they eat and how it affects their mood. 6 months after the birth of their children, women were asked to rate the behavior of their babies: how fearful they were, how often they laughed, smiled or cried. It turned out that children whose mothers indulged in sweets during pregnancy and ate at least a little chocolate every day showed more activity and reacted more positively to everything. These kids had smiles on their faces much more often than tears, and in general they were noticeably more cheerful than those children whose mothers did not allow themselves an extra bar of chocolate.

A successful combination of nutritional components with high calorie content (550-600 kcal/100 g) makes it an indispensable product for increasing the body’s energy and reducing fatigue. About 40% of the population consume chocolate 2-3 times a month.

In 1615, the daughter of the Spanish king, Anne of Austria, was married to Louis XIII. She saved herself from loneliness in a foreign country with chocolate, which she brought with her to Paris. Thanks to the young princess, chocolate became one of the most popular delicacies of the French nobility.

The Italian Giovanni Casanova, known for his numerous love and adventurous adventures, believed that the secret of his potency was in a morning cup of chocolate. He always and everywhere carried a silver “chocolate box” with him, which is documented in the diaries of the seducer.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe did not trust hotel service in Switzerland, where chocolate had not yet become fashionable in his time. Going there in 1797, he took with him dishes for preparing the drink. And later he did this every time he wanted to travel in the foothills of the Alps.

For a long time, Catholics debated whether it was okay to drink chocolate during Lent. The Jesuits, who controlled the European chocolate trade, insisted on the harmlessness of this drink. Other hierarchs opposed it, since the Catholic Church prohibited everything that brought sensual pleasure.
Passions became so heated that in 1569, the bishops of Mexico convened a special chocolate congress. Since it was not possible to reach a common decision, Father Gerolamo Vincenzo went to the Vatican.
Pope Pius V was at a loss. He had never tried the drink and had never heard of it. However, the priest had a bag of selected cocoa with him. Chocolate was prepared (in those days the drink was odorous, viscous and rather bitter). And dad, taking a sip, said: “Such disgusting things can’t give pleasure.”
Thus, empirically, the dispute was resolved.

The first book about chocolate was published in 1609 in Mexico. It was called "Libro en el cual se trata del chokolate" - "The book that contains everything about chocolate."

In 1704, the policy of restricting the import of foreign goods forced Frederick I of Prussia to impose a tax on chocolate. The Germans paid two thalers for permission to enjoy chocolate.

In October 2000, the Chocolate Museum opened in Barcelona. The museum's collection includes smaller versions of Barcelona's architectural masterpieces, made of chocolate. Overall, the exhibition tells the story of a winding path exquisite delicacy to Europe.
Chocolateland appeared on the world map

In the German Europa Park, 45 km from Baden-Baden, all countries of the world are represented, including the fabulous Chocolateland. Every day a real chocolate show is held here, which spectators watch while sitting on a rostrum rotating around the stage. The park is very popular: 3 million people visit it annually.

At one of the “Chocolate Salons”, which are held every year in Paris, an exact copy of the French Formula 1 team car Prost AP 01 was presented to the attention of the audience. It took 580 kg of chocolate to make this masterpiece.

The main event of one of the “Chocolate Salons” held annually in Paris was a unique fashion show. Chocolate details predominated in the clothes created by leading French fashion designers. And when choosing accessories, the designers used everything that had at least some connection with chocolate.
True, connoisseurs were not able to try these works of art, since they were shown by real models.

Imagine a magnificent corset that melts in your mouth, or wonderful pearls that you can eat one after another. This is what a funny fashion show looked like, which took place in New York in December 1998. 12 dresses made from chocolate by famous designers were presented to the audience. Dark, light and white chocolate were used to make evening dresses and jewelry, and even a wedding dress was made from the sweet material.

The biggest chocolate cookies with a diameter of 24.2 m and an area of 486.95 sq. m - manufactured in New Zealand on April 2, 1996. This required about 2.5 tons of chocolate at selected cooling temperatures.

At the chocolate exhibition in Brussels, guests were able to watch the inspired work of a sculptor who sculpted chocolate. In front of the amazed audience, a sweet lump weighing a ton turned into an original sculpture in the style of surrealism.

At the chocolate exhibition in Brussels, an auction of original chocolate “paintings” was held. Each of them, weighing 10 kg, was a chocolate handprint of a Belgian celebrity. The highest price went to a “painting” with handprints of Eddie Merkes, the legendary Belgian cyclist. It was bought for 12 thousand francs.

In October 1999, a festival dedicated to chocolate took place in the Italian city of Perugia. Artists painted pictures with melted chocolate, and the streets were turned into an exhibition dedicated to the history of chocolate.

Thanks to healing properties chocolate resorts have become popular, where chocolate is used to treat depression. One of the most famous is the Hershes resort, which is located in California.

According to statistics, the French eat 36,000 tons of candy during Christmas alone—that's 4 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower. However, the biggest sweet tooths in the world are the Germans and the Swiss: each of them produces 10-11 kg of chocolate per year.

Recently, travel companies have begun to willingly include chocolate cafes in their travel programs: “In Villajoyosa, you will not only visit one of the oldest Spanish chocolate factories, but you will also be able to try variety of dishes from chocolate in numerous chocolate cafes.” As a rule, advertising hits the target. Europeans not only love to travel, but also to eat delicious food. And in modern chocolate shops you can try not only desserts, but also have a very substantial lunch, for example, duck with chocolate sauce.

Do you know why Belgian chocolate is considered the best in the world? Belgian chocolate masters say that when Henri Escher, the mayor of Zurich, visited Brussels in 1967, he tasted hot chocolate for the first time in his life. This taste delighted him so much that he bought the recipe and brought it to Switzerland. Since that time, Belgian chocolate and sweets have become synonymous with perfect chocolate.

Pedantic German sexologists have calculated: one tile replaces 6 Viagra tablets.

Researchers at Harvard University conducted experiments and found that if you eat chocolate three times a month, you will live almost a year longer than those who deny themselves such pleasure.

People spend $7 billion on chocolate every year.

The average annual chocolate consumption per person is 5.5 kg.

Italian nutritionists introduced into practice chocolate diet: daily 5 cups instant coffee With skim milk and 80 grams of dark chocolate per day. You enjoy it for a couple of days and lose from 1 to 3 kg.

World Chocolate Day is celebrated annually on July 11 - at the height of the hot summer. The generally accepted name of the holiday English language- World Chocolate Day.
Chocolate Day is a very young holiday. It appeared only in 1995. It was invented by the French - big chocolate lovers. The idea also appealed to those with a sweet tooth outside of France. As a result, today World Chocolate Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, including Russia.

Chocolate contains a natural "love drug". Tryptophan - heemicat, which the brain uses to make a transmitter called setoronine. High content serotonin gives a feeling of euphoria, even ecstasy - hence the name of the drug “ecstasy”, which also works by raising serotonin levels.

Chocolate is one of the oldest and most amazing food products in the history of mankind. According to the legend of the ancient Aztecs, cocoa beans were brought to people by Quetzalcoatl, the most revered god in Aztec mythology, whose return many South Americans are waiting for to this day. The word “chocolate” has several meanings: translated from Aztec it means “bitter water”, and translated from Greek it means “food of the gods”. Overall, the history of this product is truly rich and varied; if you want to know more about it, you can go to the capital of the Czech Republic, visit the Chocolate Museum, where you can see a very interesting exhibition. In the meantime, for the attention of the biggest fans of chocolate products, here are a few unknown facts from the history of this delicacy.

A huge number of famous and high-ranking people at all times have been chocolate lovers, but the Aztec emperor Moctezuma Hocoyotzin (Montezuma the Second) can be considered the very best of them. He had more than a billion cocoa beans in his collection, and in addition, he drank about 50 cups of chocolate drink every day.

Once upon a time, the Catholic Church considered the use of this product to be the same sin as, for example, blasphemy, adultery or witchcraft.

Chocolate contains theobromine, which is a strong toxin for many animals. So not only a drop of nicotine can kill a horse, but also a large amount of chocolate eaten (about 10 g per kilogram of weight). But the stimulant phenamine, which is also part of everyone’s favorite delicacy, is very close in its effect to amphetamine, so it can cause a state of euphoria in a person.

The product made from cocoa beans can be consumed not only in the form of a drink or candy, but also in chocolate baths, wraps or masks. There are even special chocolate resorts and beauty salons in the world: for example, you can go to the North of the Czech Republic, where there is a small resort called Mshene. Here you can improve your health with the help of various chocolate treatments. After all, many beauty salons use it.

If we continue the topic of health, dark dark chocolate is considered the healthiest and lowest in calories, as evidenced by. It is on the consumption of such a product that one of the diets developed by modern specialists is based. If you want to determine whether a particular chocolate bar is really healthy, look at the list of ingredients: cocoa or chocolate liqueur should come first, but in no case sugar.

Chocolate has always been loved. Both adults and children always enjoy this delicacy. But what do we know about chocolate? About its properties, its origin?

For example, did you know that for many hundreds of years the Indians belonging to the tribes of old America consumed chocolate in liquid form, i.e. like a drink. And the very name of the sweetness takes us back to the old word “xocolatl”, which translated from the Aztec language sounds like “bitter water”.

To fill the gaps in knowledge about our favorite chocolate, we present to you the top 10 interesting facts about chocolate.

Residents of this country consume about ten kilograms of this delicacy per year! And this despite the fact that the average Russian, for example, consumes only about 4 kg of chocolate per year.

Also, the chocolate produced by the confectioners of those places is highly rated almost all over the world.

9. Chocolate is a powerful aphrodisiac

Dark chocolate (of proper quality, of course) can have a stimulating effect on the body. And all thanks to the fact that it contains a large amount of substances such as phenylethylamine and phenamine. Both substances are produced by our body at the moment of orgasm.

Interestingly, this property of chocolate was discovered by the Aztecs. They treated their couples to chocolate before their first night together.

8. Breaking stereotypes. Chocolate will not ruin your figure!

Again, the quality of the purchased chocolate will play a role here. If you want to save money and take cheap chocolate, it will probably contain cocoa substitutes and similar fats that negatively affect the body.

But if the chocolate turns out to be of high quality, then you can safely allow yourself to eat it, without any extra pounds on your waist.

7. Chocolate is very necessary for pregnant women

Statistics tell us that children whose mothers were lovers of chocolate sweets have stronger nerves and better health. Therefore, dear girls, do not mislead yourself and deny yourself your favorite sweets.

6. Chocolate has a positive effect on the heart and blood vessels

Polyphenol, which contains cocoa beans in large quantities, have a strong influence on cardiovascular system, while improving blood flow.

5. There is a world chocolate day

The French started this celebration at the end of the twentieth century. Today, the holiday is celebrated in Russia, organizing various exhibitions and festivities, which are accompanied by treating this delicacy.

4. Composition of white chocolate

The main ingredient is cocoa butter. In addition to it, white chocolate contains sugar, vanillin and milk.

Interesting fact: most often, it is white chocolate that is made porous.

3. Chocolate is not a factor in tooth decay.

Yes, yes, for our long-suffering teeth, chocolate is the least harmful treat. The fact is that tannins contained in chocolate do not allow bacteria to multiply. Knowing this feature, many toothpaste manufacturers specifically add cocoa to their product.

2. Chocolate is poison for a large number of animals

Theobromine, which is in chocolate, in human body disintegrates almost instantly. But for horses, cats and rodents, as well as some parrots, this substance is deadly.

1. Chocolate will lift your mood

Theobromine and phenylethylamine, which were described above, as well as caffeine, which is part of chocolate, give us strength, improve our mood and promote the body’s production of endorphins, i.e. hormones of joy.

Many scientists even consider chocolate to be an effective treatment for depression.

In this article we told you something new and interesting about chocolate. We hope that you learned something useful for yourself.

As you can see, chocolate has a mass positive qualities, so hurry up to the store. Bon appetit!

Chocolate is one of the most favorite treats for both children and adults. Connoisseurs of this creation confectionery art can be found all over the world. We present to your attention the most interesting facts about chocolate.

1. Chocolate sweets improve cardio function vascular system and help cleanse blood vessels.
2. Since ancient times, chocolate has been credited with not only healing, but also magical and even mystical properties. What can we say if, translated from Latin, cocoa trees are called “food of the gods” (“Theobroma Cacao”).
3. According to statistics, chocolate sales in 2011 amounted to more than 83 billion dollars. Judging by this, in 2016 this figure will increase by another 15%.
4. The largest chocolate bar, which was listed in the Guinness Book of Records, was a chocolate bar weighing 4.41 tons and with dimensions of 5.6 x 2.75 x 0.25 meters.

5. Each cocoa tree produces about two and a half thousand cocoa beans. To become fruitful, a tree must be at least 4-5 years old. But did you know that it takes 400 beans to make a pound of chocolate?

6. Chocopologie by Knipschildt chocolate is recognized as the most expensive chocolate. The cost of a pound of this delicacy ((453 grams) is $2,600.

7. Mexicans with the names Mokaya and Omelki were the first people to try cocoa. This happened about a thousand years BC.
8. Interesting facts about chocolate concern amazing properties its components. So, if you consume chocolate constantly, and then suddenly give up this pleasure, the person will experience a slight “withdrawal”.
9. According to Aztec legend, cocoa was brought to earth by the god Quetzalcoatl, for which he was soon expelled from heaven.
10. Due to a substance called theobromine, chocolate is a poisonous product for animals.

11. Residents of Japan found unusual symbolism in the name of Kit Kat chocolate. In this country, it is consonant with the Japanese “kittokatsu”, which means “sure to win.” It is for this reason that the Japanese consume Kit Kat chocolate before an important task.
12. The chocolate market worldwide is worth about $85 billion.
13. Latin American curanderos healers will use chocolate in medicinal purposes, for example, to treat bronchitis. And in some regions, children drink hot chocolate every morning to prevent bee and scorpion stings.
14. Cocoa trees can grow for 200 years or more. But they bear fruit only for a quarter of a century.
15. The name “chocolate” itself comes from the Mayan word “xocolatl”, which means “bitter water”.

16. The diet of soldiers of the Second World War necessarily included chocolate. But it was made in such a way that taste qualities the product came out a little better than boiled potatoes" This was done so that the soldiers would not immediately eat this healthy delicacy.
17. The age of cocoa as a plant crop is several million years.
18. Unlike black, during manufacturing white chocolate Cocoa butter is used instead of solid cocoa.
19. The sensation of chocolate melting in your mouth can cause a person to experience a stronger state of euphoria than a kiss.

Interesting video about chocolate. How chocolate is made.