I love chocolate and eat it every day so I was excited to learn that September 13 is International Chocolate Day. Why September 13? It is Milton Hershey’s birthday. Milton was the founder of the Hershey Chocolate Company in Hershey Pennsylvania.
I remember visiting Hershey Pennsylvania when I was a child. They had huge vats of melted chocolate in the chocolate factory and we were tempted to dip our fingers in the chocolate, but fortunately our parents discouraged us from doing so.
What was the name of the town before it became Hershey? It was originally named Derry Church. The tops of the lampposts in Hershey are Hershey kisses!
There are 15 types of Hershey Kisses along with seasonal holiday varieties. Halloween monster kisses are popular this time of year. Candy corn Hershey kisses were a thing for awhile, but they were discontinued. There are also hugs – white chocolate with a milk chocolate center.
There are 4 types of chocolate – dark, milk, white and ruby. Dark chocolate contains 50 – 90% cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar. The more cocoa solids, the less sugar and more bitter taste. Some people like the taste of very dark chocolate but most often it is used in baking where it is mixed with sugar to take away some of the bitterness. Milk chocolate has 10 – 50% cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar and milk. White chocolate is technically not chocolate although it is made with cocoa butter (it does not contain cocoa solids). Ruby chocolate, discovered in 2017, is made of “ruby cacao beans”which are found in Ecuador, Brazil and Ivory Coast. Ruby chocolate has a fruity taste. Dark chocolate has been shown to have health benefits. Chocolate has been shown to release endorphins – just as exercise releases endorphins giving us a happy, relaxed feeling. Exercise or chocolate? You decide!
What is the most popular chocolate bar in the United States? (Answer at the bottom of this post.) Approximately 400 million of these chocolate bars are sold in the US each year. According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the largest of this type of this chocolate bar weighed 4,700 pounds. It was made at the Mars factory in Waco – “everything is bigger in Texas”.
Chocolate chip cookies were discovered by accident. In 1938 a home cook, Ruth Wakefield, thought that adding chocolate chunks to her cookie batter would result in chocolate cookies. Instead she stumbled upon the recipe that would become the world’s favorite cookie. She eventually sold the recipe to Nestle Toll House in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate.
Here’s a dessert I bet you’ve never tried: dark chocolate ganache (thick, rich chocolate sauce made from chocolate and cream) spread on toasted buttered baguette, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt flakes. Fabulous!
The most popular chocolate bar in the United States is SNICKERS!
