Medically Reviewed by Christine Mikstas, RD, LD on August 23, 2022
Question 1/16

Which kind of chocolate is healthiest?

  • Milk
  • Dark
  • White

It's not up there with spinach, but dark chocolate is usually your healthiest bet. The darker chocolate is, often the less fat and sugar it has. Plus, dark chocolate usually is least processed -- that means it has the most antioxidant-like flavonoids, which may help lower blood pressure and cholesterol. The higher the percentage of cocoa, typically the more flavonoids the chocolate has. But don't eat lots of chocolate in hopes of better health. A serving size is about the same as a package of dental floss.

Question 2/16

Chocolate was believed to be so powerful that at one time:

  • Doctors used it to treat broken hearts
  • Nuns were forbidden to eat it
  • Both

Chocolate has a long reputation as an aphrodisiac. Aztec ruler Montezuma supposedly drank a chocolaty concoction before visiting the women in his harem. It’s also believed that nuns were forbidden to eat it at one time because it was thought to be so romantically potent. And French doctors supposedly used it to treat broken hearts.

Question 3/16

How many milk chocolate bars would you have to eat to get the caffeine in one cup of coffee?

  • Two
  • Eight
  • Fourteen

Chocolate does have caffeine. But if you're looking to get a caffeine boost, chocolate isn't your best bet. You’d need to eat 11 regular-sized (1.5-ounce) bars of milk chocolate to get the same caffeine as you’d find in an 8-ounce cup of coffee! That would have about 2,585 calories and more than 250 grams of sugar -- compared to only about two calories in black coffee. Dark chocolate does have more caffeine than milk chocolate. Even then, it would take four bars to give you the same buzz as one cup of regular Joe.

Question 4/16

Why is white chocolate white?

  • It is mostly milk
  • It has no cocoa solids
  • The color has been bleached out

White chocolate has cocoa butter, so technically it’s called chocolate. But it doesn't have cocoa solids -- the ingredient that gives chocolate its dark, rich color.

Question 5/16

The average American eats about this much chocolate each year:

  • 2 pounds
  • 6 pounds
  • 12 pounds

Chocoholics 'r' us! We each eat close to a dozen pounds of chocolate per year. And most of that is milk chocolate. More than 90% of Americans say they prefer milk chocolate over dark or white. It takes a long time to work off all that chocolate. It would take a 130-pound woman about 4 days and nights (95 hours) of brisk walking to burn off those calories!

Question 6/16

When do people buy the most candy?

  • Valentine's Day
  • Halloween
  • Easter

Believe it or not, Valentine's Day isn't No. 1 when it comes to buying sweets. Halloween, Easter, and Christmas are all bigger candy-buying occasions. But that doesn't mean chocolate isn't big on February 14. More than 36 million heart-shaped boxes of candy are sold each Valentine's Day.

Question 7/16

Why is chocolate associated with love?

  • It makes you happy
  • Romeo gave it to Juliet
  • It's addictive

Chocolate has hundreds of chemicals, and some work on the brain. According to some research, eating chocolate stimulates your brain to make opioids -- kind of giving you a natural high that makes you feel happy like when you are in love.

Question 8/16

What can you add to your brownie mix to pump up the chocolate flavor?

  • Instant espresso powder
  • Applesauce
  • Crushed graham crackers

Want to give your brownies or other chocolate baked goods a little extra chocolaty goodness? Try adding a bit of instant espresso powder -- a teaspoon or less -- in your next recipe. Espresso powder can ramp up the chocolate taste in cakes, brownies, and cookies without adding coffee flavor or many calories. You can also replace the water the recipe calls for with strong coffee.

Question 9/16

Which part of a chocolate Easter Bunny do most people eat first?

  • Ears
  • Tail
  • Nose

Poor Easter Bunny. At least he can't hear us when we're eating him. An overwhelming number of us (76%) chomp off the ears of a chocolate bunny first before devouring the rest of him. Nearly 90 million chocolate bunnies are made each year to feed our need to nibble.

Question 10/16

Centuries ago, doctors used chocolate to treat:

  • Tuberculosis
  • Fever
  • Headaches

The Mayans and Aztecs believed chocolate had all kinds of healing powers. They used it to treat everything from fevers and seizures to skin infections. When chocolate made its way to Europe in the 1600s, some doctors used it to try to treat illnesses -- like ulcers and ringworm. Meanwhile, other docs thought it caused illnesses and drunkenness!

Question 11/16

Chocolate can cause:

  • Acne
  • Migraines
  • Both

Don't blame chocolate for your acne. Although diet -- especially greasy foods and chocolate -- are often blamed for breakouts, there's little proof that there's any connection.However, people with migraines aren't so lucky. Their headaches may be triggered by certain foods. And chocolate is reported as a common trigger.

Question 12/16

What did the Aztecs do with cacao beans?

  • Played games
  • Made people pay taxes with them
  • Fed animals

You think you love chocolate? The Aztecs valued it so much they made it into drinks and used it for important religious and royal events. But they couldn't grow cacao (the beans used to make chocolate) in their very dry climate. Instead, they traded with other cultures for the beans or made the people they conquered pay taxes with them.

Question 13/16

Chocolate is the secret ingredient in which food:

  • Guacamole
  • Steak sauce
  • Molé

Who knows? You could experiment -- chocolate might  make almost any food more interesting. But in Mexico, cacao seeds are put in a traditional dish called molé. It’s often served as part of Day of the Dead ceremonies, where families celebrate and honor family members who have died.

Question 14/16

Chocolate is better for your teeth than dried fruit.

  • True
  • False

All sweets are not created equal when it comes to your teeth. A piece of chocolate actually does less damage to your teeth than dried fruit because you eat it and it dissolves. Dried fruit -- and hard candy -- leave sugars that stick to your teeth. It's always a good idea to brush after eating sweets to get rid of that sugar. If you can't brush, at least rinse your mouth with water and swish some sugar away.

Question 15/16

Plain low-fat milk and low-fat chocolate milk are about the same nutritionally.

  • True
  • False

Plain low-fat milk and low-fat chocolate milk have the same amount of protein -- about 8 grams in an 8-ounce glass. But chocolate milk has about 60 calories more per cup and almost double the amont of sugar (some of it from lactose, or naturally occurring milk sugar).

Question 16/16

What is Dutch-process chocolate?

  • Chocolate from the Netherlands
  • A chocolate treated to be milder
  • Chocolate with extra air and milk

Dutch-processed or Dutched chocolate is cocoa powder or chocolate liquor that has been treated to end up with a milder taste and a darker color. Dutched or alkalized cocoa is used in delicate, European-type baking. Natural, unsweetened cocoa powder is more intense and often used in brownies, cookies, and cakes.

Show Sources

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SOURCES:

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Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center: "The Truth About Chocolate and Your Heart."

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Center for Science in the Public Interest: "Caffeine Content in Food & Drugs."

ChooseMyPlate.gov: "Supertracker."

Clemson University Cooperative Extension: "When it Comes to Chocolate, Choose Dark."

Cleveland Clinic: "Heart-Health Benefits of Chocolate Revealed."

County of San Diego: "Candy is Dandy … but Tough on Teeth."

Drewnowski, A. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 1992.

Godiva: "Chocolate trivia."

Gourmet: "The History of Valentine's Day … and Chocolate."

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Mars.

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University of Michigan Integrative Medicine: "Dark Chocolate."

University of Minnesota: "Migraines."

University of Southern California: "Ask the Expert: Does sugar really rot your teeth?"

U.S. Department of Agriculture: "What's in a Serving Size?"

USDA National Nutrient Database.

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