In honor of National Chocolate Day, we're celebrating with some fun facts about the favorite confectionary.
* It takes 400 cocoa beans to make one pound of chocolate.* Each cacao tree produces approximately 2,500 beans.* Research to date supports that chocolate can be enjoyed as part of a balanced, heart-healthy diet and lifestyle.* The average serving of milk chocolate has about the same amount of caffeine as a cup of decaf coffee.* Because cacao trees are so delicate, farmers lose, on average, 30 percent of their crop each year.* Studies have demonstrated that one of the major saturated fats in chocolate does not raise cholesterol like other hard fats–meaning chocolate can be enjoyed in moderation.* Chocolate comes from a fruit tree; it’s made from a seed.* Theobroma Cacao is the tree that produces cocoa beans, and it means “food of the gods.” Carolus Linnaeus, the father of plant taxonomy, named it.