Valentine’s Day is many things to different people – a chance to start new relationships, rekindle old ones, or remind that special someone how wonderful they really are. Others see it as just another holiday whereby they are expected to do something for unknown reasons.

Regardless of your hopes, expectations or reservations about Valentine’s Day, chocolate has long been a favourite gift for lovers. For centuries, chocolate has been used as a gift and can say ‘thank you’ ‘good luck’ or, in the case of Valentine’s Day, ‘I love you’.

Debra Waterhouse, author of Why Women Need Chocolate, conducted a survey and found that 97 per cent of women reported cravings, 68 per cent of which were for chocolate; 50 per cent would choose chocolate over sex and 22 per cent more women than men were likely to choose chocolate as a mood elevator.

Receiving a nicely wrapped box of chocolates creates a sense of anticipation. The pleasure of unwrapping it, the sensual smell, lifting the seductive papers and looking at the chocolates all anticipate the pleasure of eating them.

The taste and smell flood your senses with deepest pleasure. Eating chocolates slowly, taking time to enjoy and savour every bit, is one of the best ways to start off an evening of love.

Let us now turn to the origins of chocolate. These can be traced back to the Theobroma (meaning food of the gods) cacao tree at least 4,000 years ago. The plant is believed to have originated in the Amazon or Orinoco basins in South America and was regarded by the Aztecs as being of divine origin.

The tree’s beans were used as currency: 100 beans would buy a slave, 12 beans the services of a courtesan and 10 beans a rabbit.

Although Christopher Columbus was the first to carry beans back to Europe (around 1502), they were seen as curiosities. In fact, it his fellow countryman, the conquistador Hernán Cortés, who is credited with introducing them to the western world a little over 40 years later.

Cortés recognised the potential of the cacao beans and took them to Spain. These were used to seed plantations in Trinidad, Haiti and the West African island of Fernando Po and gave Spain a virtual monopoly of the cocoa market for almost a century.

Chocolate drinks were developed in Spain that were seasoned with pepper, vanilla, sugar and cinnamon or mixed with beer or wine. They became so popular that Spanish society ladies had them served during Mass.

The French were most interested in the new chocolate and immediately hailed it as a wondrous aphrodisiac.

In 17th and 18th century England, the drink became so popular that chocolate houses threathened the existence of the traditional English pub. The first commercial factory in the UK (J.S. Fry) began in Bristol in 1728.

Originally, chocolate bars were dry, grainy and not particularly tasty. Milk chocolate was a much later invention and the chocolate of today began in 1876 when Henri Nestle and Daniel Peters added milk and extra sugar to create the world’s first milk chocolate bar.

Later still, American Milton Hershey became the first to mass produce chocolate in 1894 when he began selling the world’s first Hershey Bar for five cents.

Chocolate is the perfect gift for most people. It has long been associated with romance dating back to the time of the Aztecs. There is a larger variety of different kinds of chocolate on the market and the secret is to select the best kind of chocolate which fits your lover’s taste.

As you search for chocolates you will see that there are distinct differences in packaging, taste and price. The presentation of your chocolate box will add value and meaning.

A good idea is to create a chocolate box with a mix of chocolates. Most people enjoy a variety of tastes and this is a present with a difference since it is personalised.

However, not all chocolate needs to be ingested. If your partner loves chocolate but wants to keep a trim waistline, one of these treats might satisfy their craving without the guilt: chocolate body lotion, chocolate and mint foaming hand and body soap, a chocolate face mask or a hot chocolate body scrub.

However you decide to present your gift, you simply cannot go wrong with chocolate. It is a matter of creativity and the time you spend choosing your Valentine’s Day present will make your significant other very happy.

Showing your love is the key to a successful Valentine’s Day and chocolate can help you to do this.