Chocolates

Yes! We all love chocolates. But we are not the only generation to love chocolates. Archaeological evidence dates back to almost 1900 BC since chocolate was first consumed. Chocolates as you might have been aware were produced from a bean called COCOA. Almost two thirds of these Cocoa beans come from West Africa.

It's certainly not good for us to eat chocolates in excess. Eating chocolate can turn out to be an addiction. Besides, chocolates provide us with too many calories that might be harmful if taken in excess. Anyways! As we all love chocolates, here are a few interesting facts associated with chocolates.

- The smell of chocolate is said to have soothing affect on our brains. It's one of the reasons why we love to have a bite of chocolate when we feel sad. It acts as a good anti depressant!

- Theobromine is an ingredient found in chocolate that could be fatal to some animals. Animals such as cats, dogs, horses, parrots and rodents might die after consuming chocolate... because they are unable to metabolise theobromine effectively.

- Guys who love chocolates would also love Chocolate chip cookies. Do you know that these cookies were invented by accident? Yes! In 1930 a women named Ruth Wakefield was trying to make chocolate cookies. As she was out of liquid chocolate, she added pieces of chocolate on her cookies expecting them to be absorbed. They instead turned out to be Chocolate chip cookies.

- Ruth Wakefield as you have just read invented the chocolate chip cookies. And she sold her recipe to Nestle. But do you know what she demanded in return. A lifetime supply of chocolate!

- Nutella... the cocoa spread is also found in a similar fashion to chocolate chip cookies. Pietro Ferrero is an Italian baker who suffered a shortage of chocolate supply during World War II. So he mixed hazelnuts with chocolate to cope up with the shortage. This product has of course clicked in the market and continued forever.

- According to the Guinness, the largest chocolate bar in the world is 5,792 kgs. It was created by a company called Thorntons to celebrate its 100th anniversary.

- Chocolates, the dark ones in particular, contain caffeine with them. Caffeine as we are aware, acts as a stimulant. It would keep us awake and alert, but can also make us addictive.

- Eating dark chocolates is said to decrease the heart disease by one- third. It could even lower the blood pressure. Since we are kids, we need not bother about such problems. But it would be good to know that Chocolate has an anti-bacterial effect on the mouth and protects against tooth decay.

- Kids loving chocolates might be aware of the Hershey Company which produces chocolates in millions. Milton Hershey, the founder of the company has once reserved a ticket in a ship, but had to cancel it due to last minute business affairs. That ship was none other than the Titanic, which sank into the ocean on its maiden voyage.

- Speaking technically, white chocolate can't be considered as a chocolate. Because it is made of only cocoa butter! The dark solids of cocoa bean are not added in white chocolate. So it lacks much of the flavour and contents that could be found in dark chocolate.