Chocolate Bunny Has Rich History With Holiday
(NUI) - People all over the world celebrate Easter, and especially in America, children and adults alike eat plenty of candy during Easter.
In fact, Easter is the second largest candy-eating holiday of the year, trailing only Halloween, according to the National Confectioners Association. And in 2003, American consumers spent $1.8 billion on Easter candy, much of this money going to purchase the traditional chocolate Easter bunny.
Sixty million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each year, and everyone has an opinion on how to eat them. But the most popular way to eat a chocolate bunny is ears first. In a recent survey, 74 percent of children and 61 percent of adults said that the ears of a chocolate Easter bunny should be eaten first.
But how did the bunny become linked to Easter in the first place? And how did we get the chocolate Easter bunny?
It is believed that Easter is named for Ishtar, the ancient fertility goddess. Rabbits are considered symbols of fertility in many cultures.
But the bunny as an Easter symbol was first mentioned in writing by the Germans in the 1500s. The Germans brought the symbol of the Easter bunny to the United States when they arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country in the 1700s. Yet, the Easter bunny was widely ignored by other Christians until after the Civil War, because Easter was not widely celebrated in the United States until after that time.
The first edible Easter bunnies were made in Germany in the early 1800s, but they were made of pastry and sugar. Then in 1842, Stephen F. Whitman founded Whitman's Chocolates and became one of the first American confectioners to make chocolate Easter bunnies.
Today, chocolate bunnies are more popular than ever. Russell Stover Candies makes one of today's most recognized chocolate bunnies. In 2003, the company sold more than 11 million chocolate Easter bunnies. And today, your choices are no longer limited to plain chocolate. Russell Stover bunnies come in many different varieties: hollow or solid, white or milk chocolate, with sugar or sugar-free, and with caramel, pecans, peanuts, crispy rice or peanut butter.
For more information on chocolate bunnies and other Easter treats, go to www.russellstover.com.
Article courtesy of www.newsusa.com.
