What makes chocolate the perfect Valentine' Day gift?

When you close your eyes and think of the classic Valentine’s Day, you probably think of two things right away. First, you think of flowers. And then, you think of chocolate. Whether it’s served in a heart-shaped box or covering ripe strawberries, chocolate and Valentine’s day are a match made in heaven.

But, why? There are so many sweet treats that could have made the cut and didn’t. Why isn’t red velvet cake the unofficial Valentine’s Day gift? Or lemon meringue pie? In the words of Tina Turner, when it comes to chocolate - what’s love got to do with it?

Bad puns aside, we’re celebrating our Valentines this year by shooting Cupid’s arrow right at the beloved chocolate bar. We want to answer all your burning questions. Will chocolate make my crush fall in love with me? Are cacao beans heart-shaped? Keep reading to find out what makes chocolate the confection of love.

Chocolate is an aphrodisiac.

There’s a rumor going around about chocolate being an aphrodisiac, and it’s been passed on through the generations for centuries. King Charles II shared a mutual love for both his chocolates and his mistresses. Bernal Díaz Castillo suggested that the Aztec dictator Moctezuma saw chocolate as a way to improve his chances with women.

And while this claim hasn’t held up to any level of scientific scrutiny, the myth lives on in the hearts and minds of Valentine’s Day gift-givers everywhere who are hoping that their gift for their loved one might double as a gift for themselves. We can’t blame them, though. It hasn’t exactly been disproven, so why not give it a try.

Chocolate makes you feel good

You may already know that chocolate has some properties that will release endorphins in our body, similar to exercise. Endorphins make us feel good, and that’s an ideal situation for falling in love with someone. So when you’re considering a gift that will make your partner or crush feel good about being around you, chocolate might be the gift to send.

Good marketing sealed chocolate’s fate.

While chocolate has always had a rich history of being associated with love, the direct correlation between chocolate and Valentine’s Day had yet to be cemented. That didn’t happen until the first chocolate box came on the scene. In the mid-1800s, Richard Cadbury decided to sell chocolate in fancy looking boxes and the idea took off. As more people received the chocolate boxes as gifts for Valentine’s Day, it slowly became an integral part of the holiday festivities. 

And that’s the interesting take on why chocolate and love are two sides of the same coin. It makes perfect sense: when buying a gift for a loved one, people choose the item that will make their partner feel happy to be around them. In fact, we think chocolate is the far superior gift when compared to flowers. With a legacy that extends back thousands of years, that’s a hard fact to dispute.