Fun facts about chocolate

The word chocolate is derived from the Mayan word ‘Chocol,’ meaning a hot drink. Chocolate comes from a fruit tree; it is made from a seed.

Theobroma Cacao is the tree that produces cocoa beans, and it means “food of the gods.”

Ruth Wakefield created the first chocolate chip cookie in 1930, by accident. She gave the recipe to Nestle in return for a lifetime supply of chocolate.

White chocolate is not chocolate, because it contains no cocoa. It is actually made up of a blend of sugar, milk products, vanilla, lecithin, and cocoa butter.

**A piece of dark chocolate or a glass of hot cocoa with no added sugar, once every day, can be good for your health.** [istockphoto]

Do you know why chocolate melts in your mouth? Because it is the only food that melts at 30-32 degrees Celsius, below 37 degrees Celsius, the average human body temperature.

Chocolate can kill dogs; it directly affects their heart and nervous system. The smell of chocolate increases theta brain waves which trigger relaxation.

Eating dark chocolate every day reduces the risk of heart disease by one third. Sometimes soldiers were paid in chocolate during the Revolutionary war.

**Do you know why chocolate melts in your mouth?** [iStockphoto]

A long time ago, cacao was used as a currency. Chocolate was once considered more valuable than gold!

Chocolate is more effective than codeine when it comes to coughs.

German chocolate cake did not originate in Germany and was named after an American baker, Sam German.

Napoleon loved chocolate and demanded that wine and chocolate be made available to him and his senior advisors during military campaigns.

Excessive intake of chocolate also triggers severe and persistent headaches. But a piece of dark chocolate or a glass of hot cocoa with no added sugar, once every day, can be good for your health.

It takes two to four days to make a single-serving chocolate bar. Spanish royalty gave cakes of cacao in their dowries.