National Chocolate Day is observed every year on October 28 throughout America and is celebrated with full enthusiasm in the country.
This day marks a special tribute to the greatest invention of mankind in the culinary world. Be it dark chocolate or white chocolate, people of all ages love to gorge on that sweet dish!
With National Chocolate Day, people get all the more reason to add a cheat day on their lists and enjoy it with their friends and loved ones. I can bet you can turn anyone’s mood with just one bite of that yummy snack. Be it little kids or elder people, chocolate is people’s favorite!
National Chocolate Day History
The Aztecs, dated back to 2500 years, believed that Quetzalcoatl, the God of wisdom, bestowed upon them the liquid chocolate that they discovered. Cocao seeds were the mode of currency for them. This was when they hadn’t added sugar in them. Once the sugar was added in the 16th -century, this mouth-watering dessert turned into a powerhouse treat.
The chocolate companies started working in the 19th and 20th centuries. The famous Cadbury began its operation in the year 1868, in England. 25 years later, Milton S. Hershey purchased some chocolate-producing machines at the Columbian Expo in Chicago. He started with chocolate-coated caramels. Nestle started in the 1860s and is now one of the biggest producers of chocolate.
National Chocolate Day Significance
The significance of chocolates cannot stay hidden from anyone. Who doesn’t love to engage in eating those yummy chocolates? The day holds a special place in all the chocolate lovers’ hearts. But do you know that chocolate is fermented?
The process of making chocolate includes picking up the cocoa pods first, then cleaning the white material of the pods, then it is dried and the beans are then fermented. The cocoa nibs are revealed once the papery shell is removed. It is then ground into cocoa mass, separated into cocoa solids and cocoa butter, and combined with milk and sugar. For white chocolate, chocolate butter is mixed with milk and sugar.
The world is more inclined towards dark chocolates these days as it contains less sugar and with rising cases of various sugar problems, people tend to opt for the darker piece. Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Ghana, basically the countries near the equator have the best climates for cocoa trees and they are one of the leading producers of the best chocolate.
What to do on National Chocolate Day
Now, this is a very easy question. Don’t ask what you can do on this day rather ask what all can you do today? Still, struggling? Let me help you with that:
- You can visit a local chocolate shop and buy as many chocolate favorite chocolates as you want.
- You can spend the day producing your own Cadbury chocolates at home and be a chocolatier!
- You can surf the internet with all sorts of chocolate recipes and gain some knowledge.
- You can throw a chocolate party where everything is just chocolate and nothing else! (heavenly I know!)
- The simplest is you can binge-watch your favorite chocolate movies from childhood, for instance, ‘Charlie and the Chocolate Factory’.
The list is endless. Try and pick that appeals to you the most today!
Do you Know?
- Combining dark chocolate, cocoa, and raw almonds reduces your chances of having heart problems. More and more people have started to take this as a way to reduce LDL, which is often called ‘bad cholesterol’.
- Chocolate helps in losing weight but remember it’s only when you tale dark chocolate before eating.
- And who doesn’t know about the universal truth that chocolates reduce your stress? It’s seen that people with better performances and fewer stress issues are the ones who eat chocolates.
- Dark chocolates are also said to increase your brain function and increase your IQ level.
- Chocolates have known to keep your skin hydrated and thus healthy, glowy skin!
Chocolate Pudding Recipe
On the occasion of National Chocolate Day, try your hands at this delicious recipe of chocolate pudding:
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
½ cup cornstarch
½ tsp salt
½ cup cocoa powder
4 cups milk
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate chips
Whipped cream
Procedure:
- Combine sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, and salt in a saucepan.
- Add milk slowly and boil it on medium flame. Keep stirring it while adding the milk.
- Boil for 2 minutes more.
- After switching off the flame, add vanilla and butter extract. Mix thoroughly.
- Refrigerate it for around 5 hours after transferring the pudding into a bowl.
- Use whipped cream and chocolate chips as garnish and serve!
Wishing you all a very Happy and Chocolaty National Chocolate Day!