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Chocolate Makes a Welcome Holiday Gift

Check out Creative Ways to Give "America's Favorite Flavor"

(Vienna, VA) - Chocolate has been a welcome gift for hundreds of years and this holiday season will be no exception. In a consumer survey sponsored by the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (CMA), Americans chose chocolate as their favorite flavor, making it an ideal choice for holiday gifts of food.

"There are so many delicious and creative ways to enjoy chocolate and cocoa that it is easy to come up with just the right gift for anyone on your holiday list," explains CMA President Lynn Bragg. "Chocolate not only tastes delicious, it comes in so many varieties you can express just the right sentiment."

Here are some fun ideas that match chocolate gifts to the personality and lifestyle of friends and family:

• Create a special trail mix for the college student or outdoors person in your life. Reflect the recipient's tastes, mixing items such as nuts, chocolate pieces, dried fruit and granola. Package the mix in a hand-painted glass jar tied with a ribbon.
• Dip miniature pretzels in melted dark, milk and white chocolate for a tempting mix of flavors. Present them on a holiday plate or in a candy dish.
• Wrap up a trendy fondue pot along with a variety of milk and dark chocolate bars for melting along with fresh apples and pears for dipping. Add festive paper plates and matching napkins to complete the package.
• Pair hot chocolate mugs with cocoa powder and marshmallows, along with some home-made chocolate chip cookies. Add a pair of gloves or mittens for the perfect winter day warm-up gift.
• Target the low-carb dieter with a box of sugar-free chocolate candies or sugar-free cocoa mix wrapped in a box with a T-shirt or subscription to a fitness magazine.
• Cater to the baker with a recently-published chocolate cookbook and a variety of cocoa and baking chocolate, all wrapped up with a cookie sheet or square pan ideal for brownies.

"The very first chocolate was enjoyed more than 2000 years ago when the Mayan Indians greeted special visitors by giving them cups of liquid chocolate flavored with spices," Ms. Bragg says. "Today, chocolate continues to be valued as a special and welcome gift. Best of all, enjoyed in moderation, it can fit any healthy, active lifestyle."

In a recent poll of 1,000 adults, half named chocolate as their favorite flavor for desserts and sweet snacks. Strawberry/other berry flavors came in second with 13 percent of the consumer tally and vanilla followed with 10 percent. After that, no other flavor earned more than 2 percent of consumers' preference.