So here it is chocolate fans, the week of all weeks. Chocolate Week! 15th – 22nd of October.
That’s seven full days of pure indulgement. Wispa, Dairy Milk, Topic, Crunchie, Twix, Mars, Snickers KitKat, Green & Blacks. OMG, so many bars so little time!
It’s thought that a nice chap called Cortes, one of Columbus’s ambassador dudes first received cocoa as a gift from the Aztecs. He took the cocoa back to Spain in 1527, and the Spanish kept it a secret (naughty) for over a hundred years! It was taxed it so high that only the rich could afford it.
Eventually in around 1650, chocolate finally came to the UK, and the famous Chocolate Houses of London were born. Although still a drink for the rich, It was only in the 18th and 19th centuries that it was produced in the form we recognise today! (See fact 6 below)
Now every year we get to celebrate Chocolate in all its forms for Chocolate Week!
However, you like to eat your’s mull over these 10 interesting facts and enjoy with a slab of your choice!
1. Aztecs loved the bean so much that they used it as currency during the height of their civilisation.
2. A brilliant jewel thief made off with about 28 million dollars worth of gems in 2007 because he gained the trust of the security guards in the bank in Antwerp, Belgium, by repeatedly offering them chocolate. (Belgium Chocolate Seashells one presumes?)
3. The bloody mess in Psycho’s famous shower scene was actually chocolate syrup. Yum…
4. White Chocolate Is Not Chocolate. Sorry to burst your bubble people,
as it contains no cocoa solids or chocolate liquor. It does include parts of the cacao bean—mainly the cocoa butter.
5. Nasty this one, as It’s believed that people who are allergic to chocolate (really?) are actually allergic to cockroaches! Around eight bits of insects are typically found in a bar of chocolate, according to the FDA – (Food and Drug Administration) That explains it then.
6. The first bar of chocolate was invented in 1847 by Joseph Fry. Turkish Delight anyone??
7. The scientific name for the chocolate tree translates as “food of the gods.”
8. At one point the Nazis plotted to assassinate Winston Churchill with an exploding bar of chocolate.
9. There is also a rare fourth kind of chocolate in addition to the classic milk, dark, and white varieties: blond chocolate. Tastes a bit biscuity and has a light caramel colour and is “creamy and toasty” in texture. Mmm
10. The film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was bankrolled by Quaker Oats to promote its new Wonka Bar candy. This is also why the movie is called “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” instead of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” like the book it’s based on.
Chocolate Week Chocolate Week Chocolate Week