It’s been said that just about anything can be made better by dipping it in chocolate. This includes cookies, cakes, ice cream, bananas, and even potato chips. Dipping foods into chocolate is so good, that most people don’t need a reason to do it.

However, for anyone who does need a good reason to experiment with chocolate, then National Chocolate Covered Anything Day is the day to do it. It’s a holiday that’s observed on December 16th and one that chocolate lovers are going to want to mark on their calendars.

The History Of Chocolate-Covered Cherries

Although the history of National Chocolate Covered Anything Day continues to elude us, and we were unable to uncover its origins, we were able to uncover the origins of chocolate-covered cherries. Cherries are some of the first fruits to be covered in chocolate and are still one of the most popular chocolate-covered fruits sold today.

Let’s find out when and where cherries first began to get covered in chocolate. Chocolate-covered cherries can be traced back to the 18th century in the Franche-Comté region of Eastern France. Sour cherries were a local crop, so candy makers would take them and dip them in chocolate with some local cherry brandy.

A few years later, these chocolate-covered cherries were brought to the U.S. and called cordials—named after a particular type of strong liqueur. And that’s the story of how chocolate-covered cherries became an extremely popular type of confection.

Facts About Chocolate & Chocolate-Covered Goodies

We’re not quite done with talking about chocolate or chocolate-covered foods, so we decided to add this section listing some fun facts about these topics. Below are all of the facts we could find out about chocolate and chocolate-covered goodies. We hope you enjoy it.

• Goobers were the first chocolate-covered peanut candies. They were first sold in 1925.
• Most of the chocolate-covered raisins sold in the U.S. are made from a special seedless grape.
• Nestlé makes over 20 million chocolate raisins per day.
• Raisinets were first made and sold by a Philadelphia candy store in 1927.
• March 24th is National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day.
• February 25th is National Chocolate-Covered Nut Day.
• Americans eat approximately 12 pounds of chocolate per year.
• Before 1954, the M&M trademark on candies used to be black. Now they’re in white.

Observing National Chocolate Covered Anything Day

Want to celebrate December 16th as National Chocolate Covered Anything Day? If you do, then you know what you need to do. You need to either make your own chocolate-covered treats or go buy some of your favorite ones.

That can be chocolate-covered cherries, strawberries, bananas, melon, crackers, chips, or anything else your heart desires. While you’re enjoying your chocolate-covered treats, be sure to post a picture of it on social media with the hashtag #NationalChocolateCoveredAnythingDay.