Interesting Facts

According to a study in the Journal of Marketing Research the actual taste of inexpensive wine improves, if the label looks expensive. (In one experiment a group tasted the same wine from different bottles, and the more the tasters liked the label, the more they liked the wine. Another survey back in 2012 , found that consumers believed heavier bottles were more expensive and contained higher-quality wine. It seems we really do taste with our eyes, and it means we have a tendency to enjoy wine (as well as other products) more when we think they’re expensive.  Seemingly a carefully crafted label can make us think that something is more expensive than it actually is, so much so that people enjoy identical products such as wine or chocolate more if they think they have a higher price tag. Of course that doesn't explain the Primark effect.)

According to the Kennel Club, in the UK more than 10,000 dogs a year are poisoned after eating everyday items such as onions, grapes, paracetamol and chocolate. (Between 2010 and 2014 56,000 dogs were treated for poisoning. Painkillers were the most common cause of poisoning, followed by rat and mouse bait, and chocolate. Chewing gum, laundry detergent, sultanas, grapes and raisins along with onions, garlic and leeks all cause health problems that can be fatal to our 4-legged friends.)

KFC (Kentucky Fried Chicken) has just unveiled the UK’s first edible coffee cup. (It is made from biscuit, wrapped in sugar paper and lined with a layer of white chocolate. The cup doesn't go soggy, and it allegedly keeps the coffee hot. They are calling it the Scoff-ee cup (groan).)

According to a survey conducted by the British Heart Foundation, we Brits go to great lengths to conceal our chocolate eating habits from our partners. (Apparently many of us have a secret stash of chocolate, and a quarter of us hide our supplies in our drawer at work, a sixth in the bedside table, and a tenth of us hide it in the glove compartment of our car. I put mine in the fridge, not because I want to hide it, I just like cold chocolate.)

12th September Chocolate Milk Shake Day.

According to a survey conducted by sweetener manufacturer Splenda, chocolate, cheese and crisps are the treats that are most likely to tempt people away from a diet. (Half the respondents said chocolate was their downfall, for a third it was crisps, and a quarter said cheese was their biggest temptation. Other foods mentioned were bread, cakes, biscuits, sweets and Chinese meals. The fourth biggest craving mentioned was a glass of chilled white wine on a night out. What! No beer?)

According to a survey conducted by Travelodge, a third of British children think that Easter, one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar, is a celebration of the Easter Bunny's birthday. (Bless.  Maybe they should read our culture page on  Easter . The real problem is that the average child in the UK will clock up 10,000 calories whilst binging on chocolate Easter eggs and sweeties over the Easter weekend.)

The market price of cocoa beans has risen by 63% in the last two years. (The problem is that according to trade magazine Kennedy’s Confection, diminishing cocoa supplies could threaten the future of chocolate.  Because cocoa butter and cocoa are the most expensive ingredients in the chocolate we eat, it is increasing being replaced with cheaper ingredients like vegetable fat, sugar, raisins and nougat. Sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings, but you'd better stock up now.)

18-year-old Scott Moyse spotted Thorntons Chocolate incorrectly priced at one pence a piece on its website. (A couple of days later 400 boxes of chocolate arrived at his house. So, what did he do with them? He dressed up as a chicken and took to the streets of Horsham with a colourful sign declaring ‘FREE CHOCOLATE’ handed them out to passers by. Unfortunately the video is blocked here, but you might be able to see it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdQbXZDZgq0)

Researchers at the University of Warwick have created chocolate with half the fat content replaced with fruit juice. (Using apple, orange and cranberry juice droplets, they have replaced half the fat content in the chocolate but say they have managed to retain the same velvety feel as normal bars. Does this mean I can count it as one of my five a day?)

Coca-Cola is the most popular grocery product in the UK. (  It tops t he UK's list of top 10 grocery brands w ith sales of £1,014m, up £74.3m on 2011.  The next most popular brands were Warburtons, Walkers Crisps, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Hovis, Kingsmill, Nescafé, Lucozade, Andrex and for the first time Pepsi.  So, soft drinks, crisps, chocolate, coffee, bread and toilet paper.  No wonder we are topping the obesity tables in Europe. )

The UK's best-selling chocolate biscuit bar, Kit Kat, carries the Fairtrade quality mark. (As well as providing a fairer price for cocoa farmers, organisations receive additional Fairtrade premium payments to invest in long-term community and business development projects of their own choice, such as education and healthcare, the environment or their businesses. So have a break, give a helping hand.)

Albert F Storz patented chocolate Easter bunnies in the USA on May 3, 1960. (The patent, number 187838, lasted 14 years. You can view it here .)

According to the news website Deutsche Welle, explosives detectors can give false alarms in the presence of substances such as chocolate or perfume. (It makes you wonder how any woman makes it onto the plane then.)

According to France's Chocolate-Makers Union, the Swiss are the world's top consumers of chocolate, chomping through 12.3 kilogrammes per person per year. (No surprise that the Swiss are top, but Germans mop up 11.2 kgs per person, Britons 10.3 and Belgians 9.3. Seemingly the Japanese love dark chocolate, but the Chinese hate it! But I always say, if you don't like dark chocolate, you don't really like chocolate.)

According to the Guinness World Records Organisation, the largest chocolate bar in the world was made by Elah Dufour - Novi in Alessandria, Liguria, Italy on 11 September 2007. (It weighed 3,580 kg (7,892.5 lb), but it probably weighs nothing now.)

According to Dr David Lewis, chocolate is better than a passionate kiss, causing a more intense and longer-lasting buzz, and doubling the heart rate. (It is well known that chocolate contains phenylethylamine which can raise levels of endorphins, the pleasure-giving substances, in the brain. It also contains caffeine which has a stimulatory effect, which explains why chocolate can give people a buzz, and why people can become addicted to it. Dr Lewis said that allowing it to melt on your tongue could be the secret to maximising the buzz. Of course no one knows who paid for this research to be carried out. Hmmm I wonder!)

If you hear a Brit ask for a "99", they are ordering a special kind of ice cream. Usually sold from ice-cream vans, they should be made with soft, rather than scooped, ice cream, into which a chocolate Flake bar is inserted, typically at a 45-degree angle. (In 1930 Cadbury started producing a smaller version of the standard Flake bar especially for ice creams. These were marketed under the name 99 Flake and sold loose in boxes rather than individually wrapped like the traditional Flake. Cadbury now also produces a ready made, wrapped ice cream cone, similar to a Cornetto, with a Flake already inserted, but it's not quite the same as getting one from an ice cream van. And beware, much of the lower-priced ice cream sold in the UK, including that from some ice cream vans, has no milk or milk solids in it at all. Instead, it is made with vegetable oil. The thing to look out for is dairy ice cream, which must contain milk.)