One of the many chocolate advertisements out there.

     Fact #1 : Aztecs and Mayans use chocolate as currency

                   Mayan people consider cocoa beans to be so valuable that they were used as currency. It is said that ten beans could buy a rabbit, or even a prostitute. When the Aztecs came along they adopted these traditions and continued using cocoa beans as currency. People would buy everything from livestock, to food and tools with the beans and some people actually created counterfeit beans using clay. Generally only the richer people drank chocolate regularly.

    
Fact #2 : The biggest chocolate bar made weighs almost six tonnes (5792.5 kg's) !!

           
             In September 2011, a chocolate bar was created that weighed almost twelve thousand pounds. The bar required roughly seventeen hundred pounds of cocoa butter and about fourteen hundred pounds of chocolate liquor. It was supposed to tour around the country in an effort to get kids to “think big” and “eat smart” (although we're not really sure how..). This record was recently broken with an even bigger chocolate bar made in England. The bar, which was inspired by the story 'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory', took more than fifty people to make. Fortunately, all of that chocolate will not be wasted. This particular bar is slated to be broken up into pieces and sold, with the proceeds all going to charity.

 Fact #3 : Chocolates contain antioxidants which are beneficial to  us

              Recent research has shown that chocolate contains flavonoids (which are good for your heart and assist in preventing the onset of cancer). However, it is important to note that some studies have shown only dark chocolate will really give you a significant boost in antioxidants in moderate doses. According to researchers, dark chocolate was great for reducing blood pressure, but washing it down with milk, even if you didn’t eat milk chocolate, would reduce the beneficial effects.



 Fact #4 : Chocolates make you happy !!

             Why ? Because chocolate contains serotonin, which is the most concentrated of all the neurotransmitters contained in chocolate and are responsible for feelings of well-being and contentment, as well as curbing anxiety and depression. 

Fact #5 : The microwave oven was accidentally discovered by accident using a chocolate bar !

             You don't believe me ? In the 1940's, American and British scientists were experimenting with micro waves with the hope of creating better radar detectors. At that time, they were testing devices called magnetrons ( microwave tubes ). Percy Spencer, a scientist/engineer, entered the lab with a chocolate bar in his pocket and realized it quickly began to melt. Spencer then realized that the magnetron could potentially be used to cook food.  He successfully tried popping corn and then attempted to cook an egg which cooked so quickly, it blew up in his face!

 

Melting chocolate, omg @_@

Fritz Knipschildt is the architect behind the most expensive chocolate in the world and is sometimes called the Willy Wonka of Connecticut. He founded Knipschildt Chocolatier in South Norwalk, Connecticut in 1999 and brought his Danish culinary training with him. All of his chocolates are handmade artisan products using only the freshest natural ingredients, with no additives or preservatives. He sells a chocolate called the Madeleine that must be ordered in advance. The Madeleine contains a creamy truffle ganache made from French Valrhona chocolate blended with fresh cream infused with vanilla pods and pure Italian truffle oil.

This extravagant yet simple ganache then has a French Perigold truffle rolled inside of it and the whole thing is dusted with cocoa powder. The ingredients alone don’t explain why this truffle chocolate is the world’s most expensive chocolate ever sold. Mr. Knipschildt’s explanation for the price tag is the tremendous amount of work that goes into producing these chocolates. The ganache is whipped and folded by hand for a long time to make it as silky as humanly possible, and he even has to perform the hand rolling of the Perigold truffle inside of the ganache within a refrigerated room so that the ganache hardens ever so slightly enough to be workable. Each one of these luscious truffle chocolates has a price tag of $250, making the confection cost approximately $2,600 per pound in quantity.

If this chocolate is made in Malaysia, for sure this will what I wish we get if we win! =D 

~Nan~

Chocolate tastes so gooood.