17th May: International Chocolate Day

Today is International Chocolate Day - a good excuse to eat chocolate and read 10 things you may not know about chocolate.

1. It's not entirely certain whether the word "chocolate" comes from the Aztec word for "bitter water" or the Mayan word for "hot water". It is known that both civilizations consumed chocolate as a drink. The Mayans liked it hot and bitter while the Aztecs drank it cold and added spices, chilli peppers, vanilla and honey. Archaeologists have found evidence that cacao beans were fermented to produce an alcoholic drink.
2. Chocolate is made from the cacao bean. The cacao bean naturally contains almost 300 different flavours and 400 separate aromas. To make a pound of chocolate, you'd need 400 of them. White chocolate isn't technically chocolate at all because it doesn't have any cacao in it.
3. Cacao trees can live to be 200 years old - but only produce marketable beans for 25 years. The trees need a tropical climate - 75% of the world's cacao trees grow within 8 degrees of the equator. Today, most of the world's chocolate is grown in Africa - 66%. Cote d'Ivoire is the single largest producer of cocoa, providing roughly 40% of the world’s supply.
4. The Aztecs weren't able to grow cacao in the Mexican highlands where they lived, so to them, it was an imported luxury, while the Mayans could grow the trees in their gardens. Cocoa beans were often used as currency - with forgeries sometimes made from painted clay. You could buy a turkey for 20 beans.
5. The cacao crop was so important to the Mayans that chocolate became almost a religion. They used chocolate at baptisms and marriages, and as a substitute for blood in some ceremonies (is that where Alfred Hitchcock got the idea of using chocolate syrup in the Psycho shower scene, I wonder?) Kings would be buried with jars of chocolate. The notorious Mayan human sacrifices were frequently for the purpose of ensuring a good cacao harvest. The victim would have to drink a cup of chocolate mixed with blood so that his or her heart would turn into a cacao pod.
6. According to Aztec legend, the god Quetzalcoatl brought cacao to earth, but wasn't supposed to give it to the humans. He was cast out of heaven for doing so. The legend says that as he was cast out, he vowed to return one day as a fair-skinned bearded man who would save the earth.
7. Never feed chocolate to your dog! Chocolate is poisonous to dogs, cats and probably birds. The reason? Chocolate contains a chemical called theobromine which dogs and cats cannot digest quickly enough. If your dog scoffs your chocolate supply, take it to the vet (the dog, not the chocolate!) Cats cannot taste sweet food, so they're unlikely to be attracted to the chocolate in the first place.
8. The people who eat the most chocolate are the Swiss, who eat 22lb each every year. Australians eat 20lb and in Ireland people eat 19lb a year.
9. Dark chocolate is good for you. Research has found that it increased blood flow to the brain and so improves memory, attention span, reaction time and problem solving skills; improves vision in low contrast conditions and lowers blood pressure. One study concluded that women who eat chocolate have a better sex life (although I wonder if they actually eat chocolate because of the good sex life - because they have a really nice partner who buys them lots of chocolate...)
10. The biggest chocolate sculpture ever made was a 4,484 lb, 10 foot high Easter egg, constructed in Melbourne, Australia.