Did You Know? Ten facts about chocolate

"Forget love, I'd rather fall in chocolate." Deanna Troi, Star Trek: The Next Generation

1. The original name for hot chocolate was cacahuatl. Translated it was cocoa water. The Europeans did not like drinking anything named caca water. Would you?

2. Hershey produces 20-25 million kisses a day.

3. A single chocolate chip can provide enough energy for an adult human to walk 150 feet. Thirty-five chips enables the adult to walk one mile. For 875,000 you can walk around the world.

4. Each person consumes 12 pounds of chocolate a year. (I personally make-up for the few who eat no chocolate.)

5. Americans spend $7 billion dollars a year on chocolate. (I thought my budget was bad.)

6. In Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho, chocolate syrup was used for the blood in the shower scene. The scene lasts 45 seconds and took 7 days to shoot.

7. Monkeys were the first to find the cacao plant and discover the edible and delectable seeds.

8. Although not native to Africa, it produces 70% of the world's cocoa beans.

9. It's a great, natural anti-depressant. (Imagine what I would be like without chocolate!) It contains trytophan which helps create serotonin. Forget the turkey. I want chocolate for Thanksgiving.

10. The darker the chocolate, the better it is for you.

My next post will tell you why chocolate should be the base of the food pyramid.