Fabulous Cocoa Facts
Here's some interesting facts about Cocao.
Swiss chocolate is world renowned for exceptional chocolate, so it’s not surprising that Swiss people are the world’s top consumers of chocolates.
Each year, it is estimated that a Swiss citizen eats around 20 pounds of chocolate every year.
Germany and Ireland are also countries of chocoholics and come close to Swiss chocolate consumption with the average person eating approximately 15 pounds of chocolate per year.
The US is the number one producer of chocolates but it cannot compete with European countries when it comes to chocolate consumption. The average US citizen eats about 9.5 pounds of chocolate year.
- The fruit of the cocoa tree grow directly from the trunk. They look like small melons, and the pulp inside contains 20 to 50 seeds or beans.
- It takes 5 years for a cocoa tree to produce its first seed pods.
- It takes about 400 beans to make a pound of chocolate.
- Chocolate has properties that combat Heart disease; thanks to flavanoids from the cocoa plant
- The ancient tribes, of the Maya Indians, were the first to discover the wonderful enchanting properties of the cocoa bean around the year 600 AD.
- Cocoa was exported to Europe in 1585 but the first chocolate bar was not made until 1848.
- December 13th is National Cocoa Day.
- Christopher Columbus, in 1502, was thought to have brought cocoa beans to King Ferdinand, during his fourth trip from the New World.
- Watching your caffeine intake? An ounce of semi-sweet dark chocolate has only 20 milligrams on average, about the same amount as three ounces of brewed regular tea.