Good Lifestyle

It doesn't matter who you ask, almost everyone loves chocolate. It is one of the most popular sweet treats on earth. You have probably eaten chocolate since you were a child and you never thought about it much. It is so easily accessible in many regions of the world that having a piece of chocolate is a simple thing that we do not think much. But how really do you know about chocolate? There is in fact a lot of mystery around chocolate that many people do not realize. Read the rest to learn 9 fascinating facts on chocolate that you have probably never known before.

Chocolate is actually a fruit!

Well, it is not quite a fruit in itself, but it is close. Chocolate is part of the Théobroma tree which produces cocoa pods from which chocolate is made. The cocoa pods are harvested and the beans are removed, roasted and crushed in the form we know and appreciate chocolate.

400 beans are used to make a chocolate book.

Many cocoa beans must be harvested to make a single chocolate book. Each cocoa pod contains around 40 beans, which means that farmers must harvest a lot of the Théobroma tree beans to make as much chocolate as the world is continuously benefited.

Théobroma's tree does a lot of beans per season.

For each year they live, a Theobroma can produce around 2,500 beans each season of harvest. This means that each tree can produce about 6.25 pounds of chocolate. This results in about 33 large chocolate bars. This means that many trees are needed to keep the chocolate to come.

Farmers spend a lot of time feeding these trees before yields are possible.

Each tree takes about four to five years before they are ready to produce cocoa pods. This means that farmers must continuously feed the tree with maturity before they are profitable.

Hot chocolate is the original treat.

The very first treat to contain chocolate was the hot chocolate of drinks. It was only available for royalty because it was a very rare and very exalted delicacy. Once the machines have been created to produce chocolate on a larger scale, the chocolate -based treats and candy were more easily accessible to the masses.

West Africa produces the most chocolate in the world.

West Africa, or Côte d'Ivoire, is 70% responsible for the world's supply of chocolate. There is a specific taste for chocolate produced on Côte d'Ivoire. It has a mute flavor, ideal for commercial use in the candy bars.

The chocolate candy bar was invented for the first time in 1847.

Our modern concept of the chocolate candy bar was invented in 1847 by Joseph Fry in Great Britain, with his son. This original candy bar has become an endless range of chocolate candy and treats, with a sort of existing chocolate piece for all types of taste buds.

White chocolate is not really made from chocolate.

Well, it is not done like chocolate that we identify as chocolate. It contains cocoa butter, milk, vanilla and sugar. He is able to stay white by leaving aside the key ingredient that gives traditional chocolate its rich brown color: cocoa liqueur. This is why white chocolate has a more creamy and clearer flavor than ordinary chocolate.

Chocolate makes you happier.

The act of eating chocolate and the taste of this delicious treat is probably a source of happiness by themselves. But chocolate contains compounds that make your brain happy. Amino acids in chocolate release endorphins and serotonin in your brain that create a feeling of happiness.