How America Loves Chocolate

• American men say they would rather receive chocolate than flowers on Valentine's Day, especially those over the age of 50. Sixty-eight percent of men age 50 or older say they would prefer receiving chocolate over flowers from their sweetheart on Valentine's Day, while just 22% said they would rather have the flowers.
• The first "chocolate box" was introduced by Richard Cadbury in 1868, when he decorated a candy box with a painting of his young daughter holding a kitten in her arms. Cadbury also invented the first Valentine's Day candy box.
• The US chocolate industry is a principal consumer of many US agricultural commodities including 749 million pounds of Milk and Milk Products a year (2 million pounds per day), 326 million pounds of peanuts, and 48 million pounds of almonds.
• Chocolate is America's favorite flavor. A recent survey revealed that 52% of U.S. adults said they like chocolate best. The second favorite flavor was a tie (at 12% each) between berry flavors and vanilla .
• Sixty-five percent of American chocolate eaters prefer milk chocolate.