Ah, chocolate. For those with a sweet tooth it doesn’t matter if it’s chocolate truffles, white chocolate, or 100 percent dark chocolate as long as chocolate suppliers are getting them their fix the rest is just empty calories. Chocolate suppliers have been taking advantage of human cravings for many years at this point and don’t show nay signs of stopping. In fact, with recent studies showing the benefits of things like dark chocolate, it might even help the chocolate suppliers cause.

Just because you might love chocolate doesn’t mean you know a whole lot about it though. Sure, you might know it comes from a cacao tree before it reaches the chocolate suppliers doorstep, but do you know how long they have to wait for it to become ripe sometimes? There are so many things to know about chocolate. Here are a couple facts even the biggest chocolate lover might not know.

1. The Process Takes Longer Than You Think: As previously alluded to, the chocolate process actually takes a lot longer than you probably think from seed to store. Cacao trees typically do not begin to bear fruit until they are six to eight years of age. That means it takes years for a tree that’s planted tomorrow for there to actually be chocolate made from it. Granted, thanks to modern technology, some hybrid trees can produce fruit at just three years of age. That’s still longer than you might have expected!
2. Europeans Love Their Chocolate: You might know that places like Sweden and Germany are known for their high-end chocolate recipes, but did you know Europeans as a whole consume the most amount of chocolate compared to the rest of the world? Approximately 50% of the world?s chocolate retail sales occur on the European continent. That’s a lot of sweet tooth’s in one area.
3. Gender Differences: When it comes to chocolate preferences and purchases, both genders are apparently not created equal. On average, more women prefer chocolate than men, though both tend to like it (91% to 87%). Perhaps more interesting is the ratio at which men buy chocolate for women. According to estimates, 75% of the chocolate purchased this week will come from men buying it for women. Don’t forget to treat your man from time to time ladies, tn the name of equality of course!

Chocolate is one of the world’s favorite treats. Impress you friends with some of this obscure chocolate knowledge next time you’re enjoying a sweet treat.