How we became hooked on chocolate

? It came from Spain, which imported cocoa beans from its South American colonies and turned them into a drink by roasting and crushing the beans before adding hot water.

? The first London chocolate house was opened in 1657.

? The most famous was White's Chocolate House in St James's, which opened in 1693.

? In 1700 the taste of the cocoa drink was made more palatable for a mass market by mixing it with milk.

? Quaker families the Frys, the Rowntrees, the Terrys and the Cadburys initially hoped to promote chocolate as an alternative to drinking gin and went on to became Britain's chocolate barons.

? It was not until 1847 that Joseph Fry discovered adding chocolate liquor and sugar to cocoa butter made a pleasant solid sweet - and the chocolate bar was born.

? Last year we spent £3.9 billion on chocolate, an average of £65.10 per man, woman and child in the country.