In honour of the The Chocolate Festival which will be held on Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 August at the Anura Vineyards in Stellenbosch, here are seven facts about chocolate that you probably didn't know ...

1. In Mayan times the cocoa bean was used as currency as it was considered to be worth more than gold dust. Cultivation of the beans was restricted so the value of cocoa beans would not decrease.
2. The first chocolate bar suitable enough for widespread consumption was produced by the Fry’s chocolate factory in Bristol, England in 1847. 
3. Switzerland has the biggest chocolate consumption per capita in the world. Each Swiss person consumes an average of 11 kilograms a year. 
4. In celebration of its 100th birthday, chocolate manufacturer Thorntons created the world's largest chocolate bar. It measured 4 x 4 metres, was 35 centimetres thick and weighed a record breaking 5,792 kilograms. (To put that into perspective, an adult male hippopotamus weighs between 3,000 to 4,500 kg)
5. So many Toblerone bars are sold each year that if they were to be laid end to end, they would stretch for 62,000km, which is over one and half times the circumference of the Earth!
6. The most valuable chocolate bar in the world is one that was over 100-years old and went on Captain Robert Scott’s first Discovery expedition to the Antarctic. The bar, which was 10 centimetres long, wrapped and uneaten, was bought for almost R10,000 by an anonymous buyer in 2001.
7. Most of the world’s cocoa beans come from Africa with 40 percent produced in the Ivory Coast alone. 

And if that has got you craving for the sweet stuff, make sure you visit The Chocolate Festival which promises to be a fun-filled family day out with an array of things to do, taste, drink and enjoy including chocolate fountains, artisanal chocolatiers, sweet makers, ice cream vendors, chocolate-themed movie screenings, live bands, gin, bubbly, wine and craft beer tents, food stalls and much more.

Tickets cost only R150 per person, with children under 18 admitted free when accompanied by a parent or adult, and can be bought from www.webtickets.co.za.