Today is National Chocolate Day

Today is National Chocolate Day - while we certainly do not need a special day to celebrate and enjoy chocolate - as any day is a great day to do so - since there is a "National Chocolate Day", why not celebrate and enjoy it! I found some information about this tasty day and chocolate on line and thought I'd share some of it with you . . .  

• Chocolate comes from the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree and has been cultivated for at least three millennia. It grows in Mexico, Central America, and Northern South America. 
• The history of chocolate goes back 2,500 years. Aztecs loved their newly discovered liquid chocolate to the extent that they believed Quetzalcoatl, the god of wisdom, literally bestowed it upon them.
• Chocolate is a fermented food? That’s right, once the cacao pods are picked, cleaned of pithy white material from the fruit and dried, the cacao beans are fermented. 
• There are four Common Types of Chocolate -

1. Unsweetened baking chocolate.
2. Sweet chocolate.
3. Milk chocolate.
4. White chocolate.

• Nine out of ten people love chocolate. About one billion people eat chocolate every day - I am one of these people as I eat dark chocolate every day. Besides the fact it tastes so good, there are some health benefits of chocolate. 
• Chocolate increases serotonin and dopamine levels, which helps to boost the mood. 
• Dark chocolate can also be especially good for you as it is a powerful source of antioxidants, plus it helps to improve blood flow, lower blood pressure, and reduce the risk of heart disease.
• 400 — the number of cacao beans it takes to make one pound of chocolate.
• Chocolate comes from the cacao bean, which grows on the cacao tree - so it is technically a vegetable!
• One study showed that people who ate chocolate compounds had better cognitive performance and reported less mental fatigue than the control group. 

You will find more chocolate facts at this link. Happy National Chocolate Day!