International Chocolate Day
Next: September 13, 2027
You don't need the excuse. Here it is anyway.
The story
Where it comes from
International Chocolate Day on 13 September is recognised by the US National Confectioners Association and marks the birthday of Milton S. Hershey (1857–1945), who built the first mass-market milk chocolate in America and the company town of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Chocolate has several claimed days (7 July, the date it is said to have reached Europe, is another), but 13 September is the most widely kept.
How it's celebrated
Eaten, mostly. Chocolatiers run tastings and launches, cafés discount hot chocolate, and bakers post their best work. It is a good day to give someone a bar of something better than usual.
Did you know
- The cacao tree was first domesticated in the upper Amazon more than five thousand years ago; the Maya and Aztecs drank chocolate bitter and spiced, never sweet.
- Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana grow around 60 per cent of the world's cocoa; Indonesia is the largest producer in Asia.
- Switzerland has the highest chocolate consumption per person, at roughly ten kilograms a year.
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