America Spends $13 Billion on Chocolate

LANSING - Feb 12/04 - MFB -- Americans really like their chocolate! In a 2001 poll, 52 percent of American men and women voted for chocolate as their favorite flavor for desserts and sweet snacks. Americans spend $13 billion a year on chocolate and the average American eats about 12 pounds of chocolate annually!

The 1800s saw several major advancements in chocolate production and distribution. In 1828, Dutchman Coenraad Van Houten invented the chocolate press, still used today, which squeezes out cocoa butter, making it possible to produce solid chocolate as well as cocoa powder.

In 1847, the Fry & Sons Company of Bristol, England, introduced the first chocolate bar meant for eating as a snack. Richard Cadbury (the founder of England's Cadbury chocolate company) introduced a terrific money-making tradition by creating the first Valentine's Day candy box in 1868.

Chocolate contains two stimulants also found in coffee - caffeine and theobromine - but in relatively small amounts. Fifty M&Ms have about as much caffeine as a cup of decaffeinated coffee.

In moderate quantities, chocolate can actually be good for you. A 1.5 ounce chocolate bar contains about the same amount of total phenolic compounds as a 5 ounce serving of red wine. Phenolic compounds, which have antioxidant properties, have been associated with a reduced risk for coronary heart disease.

Chocolate is not good for your pets. Dogs and cats cannot metabolize or excrete theobromine, a mild stimulant found in chocolate. In some pets theobromine can trigger seizures, cardiac irregularity, internal bleeding and can even lead to death.

The word chocolate comes from the Aztec word xocolatl, which means "bitter water." The Aztecs had developed a taste for chocolate from their Maya neighbors to the south. Cacao seed pods, which are used to make chocolate, became key to a vast trade empire of the Aztec people - not only as a luxury item, but also as money, an offering to the gods and a tribute to rulers.

Copyright (c) 2004 Michigan Farm Bureau

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