Chocolate is America's favorite flavor. A recent
survey revealed that 52 percent of U.S. adults said they like chocolate
best. The second favorite flavor was a tie (at 12 percent each) between
berry flavors and vanilla.
U.S. chocolate
manufacturers currently use 40 percent of the almonds produced in the
United States and 25 percent of domestic peanuts.
U.S. chocolate manufacturers use about 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every day to make chocolate.
Sixty-five percent of American chocolate eaters prefer milk chocolate.
The melting point of cocoa butter is just below the human body
temperature (98.6 degrees) - which is why it literally melts in your
mouth.
The first "chocolate box" was introduced by Richard Cadbury in 1868,
when he decorated a candy box with a painting of his young daughter
holding a kitten in her arms. Cadbury also invented the first
Valentine's Day candy box.*
Older
children are significantly more likely to prefer chocolate than younger
children (59 percent of 9-11year-olds prefer chocolate vs. 46 percent
of 6-8 year-olds), according to an NCA survey.
Here are some record-winning chocolates, according to the Guinness Book of World Records:
The largest chocolate bar ever manufactured weighed 5,026 lbs. and was
exhibited by Elah-Dufour United Food Companies at Eurochocolate in
Turin, Italy in March 2000.
The largest
box of chocolates ever made was a Frango mint chocolates box weighing
3,226 lbs. created by Marshall Field's, Chicago, Illinois, USA on
November 14, 2002. The box contained 90,090 individual chocolates.
On
April 4, 1996, the Rotary Club of Piet Retief, KwaZulu-Natal, South
Africa, made a chocolate and marshamallow Easter egg which was just
over 25-ft high. The egg weighed 8,968 lbs. and was supported by an
internal steel frame.
The Northwest
Fudge Factory in Ontario, Canada, created a slab of fudge that weighed
2,002 lbs, making it the record-holding largest slab of fudge. The
chocolate-and-vanilla-swirl fudge measured 166 ft. long, 9 in. wide and
3 in. high. The fudge took a total of 86 hours to prepare and 13
individuals to pour it into shape.
* from Chocolate Fads, Folklore and Fantasies, Linda K. Fuller, Ph.D., 1994.
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