Chocolate, Candy and Sweets – answers and explanations
Here are the answers to all 15 questions in the Chocolate, Candy and Sweets quiz, each with a short explanation. From cacao bean to candy bar — test your sweet tooth knowledge. Haven't played yet? Take the quiz first and compare your score.
Play the quiz · 15 questions1. "Life is like a box of chocolates" is a famous line from which 1994 film?
Answer: Forrest Gump
The box-of-chocolates line comes from Forrest Gump (1994), directed by Robert Zemeckis with Tom Hanks in the title role. In the bus-stop scene Hanks actually says his mama said life "was" like a box of chocolates, a common misquote.
2. Which country grows more cocoa beans than any other in the world?
Answer: Ivory Coast
Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) is by far the world's biggest cocoa grower, producing roughly 1.8-2.4 million tonnes a year, close to 40% of global supply, with neighbouring Ghana second.
3. Toblerone's triangular peaks are said to be inspired by which Swiss mountain?
Answer: The Matterhorn
Toblerone, created by Theodor Tobler in Bern in 1908, has long been said to take its triangular peaks from the Matterhorn, which also appeared on its packaging until a 2023 change over Swiss labelling rules.
4. White chocolate contains no cocoa solids, but which cocoa ingredient does it have?
Answer: Cocoa butter
White chocolate is made from cocoa butter, the fat pressed from cocoa beans, blended with milk and sugar; because it contains no cocoa solids it lacks the brown colour and bitterness of dark chocolate.
5. In the film E.T., which sweets are used to lure the alien out of hiding?
Answer: Reese's Pieces
Elliott lures E.T. with a trail of Reese's Pieces in Steven Spielberg's 1982 film; Mars had declined to let M&M's be used, and Hershey's sales of the then-new candy soared afterwards.
6. Marshmallow Peeps chicks are a classic American treat for which holiday?
Answer: Easter
Marshmallow Peeps, made by Just Born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, are the classic Easter treat; the sugary chicks were originally hand-piped before production was mechanised in the 1950s.
7. Which chocolate bar shares its name with a planet?
Answer: Mars
The Mars bar is named after the Mars company's founder, Frank C. Mars; his son Forrest first made the bar in England in 1932.
8. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, what do lucky children find in Wonka bars?
Answer: Golden Tickets
Willy Wonka hides five Golden Tickets in Wonka bars; each finder wins a tour of his factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.
9. Salty liquorice, known as salmiakki, is a much-loved treat in which country?
Answer: Finland
Salmiakki, salty liquorice flavoured with ammonium chloride, is an iconic Finnish confection and Finns are among the world's top liquorice consumers. It appears in sweets, ice cream and even vodka-based liqueurs such as Salmiakki Koskenkorva.
10. Caramel is made by gently heating which ingredient until it browns?
Answer: Sugar
Caramel is produced by caramelization, the non-enzymatic browning of sugar by heat alone, with no protein involved. Table sugar typically starts to colour around 160-170 degrees Celsius, creating buttery and nutty aroma compounds.
11. Cocoa pods grow straight out of which part of the cacao tree?
Answer: The trunk and thick main branches
Cacao trees are cauliflorous: their small flowers and heavy pods sprout directly from the trunk and thick older branches, not from leafy new shoots. This lets the sturdy wood carry pods of up to half a kilo and makes hand-harvesting easy without climbing.
12. Which US town, home to a chocolate giant, is 'The Sweetest Place on Earth'?
Answer: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Hershey, Pennsylvania markets itself with the registered slogan 'The Sweetest Place On Earth'. Milton S. Hershey built the company town in Derry Township in the early 1900s, complete with Kiss-shaped streetlights on Chocolate Avenue.
13. In Narnia, the White Witch tempts Edmund with which sweet treat?
Answer: Turkish delight
In C. S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (1950), the White Witch uses enchanted Turkish delight to make Edmund crave more and betray his siblings. The sweet was a luxury treat in Britain, rationed when Lewis wrote the book.
14. Marshmallows were originally made using sap from the root of which plant?
Answer: The marsh mallow plant
The first marshmallows used the sticky, mucilage-rich sap from the root of the marsh mallow plant (Althaea officinalis), a wetland herb. Ancient Egyptians boiled the root pulp with honey as a throat-soothing sweet; gelatin later replaced the plant entirely.
15. Which stripy, kernel-shaped sweet is a classic American Halloween treat?
Answer: Candy corn
Candy corn, with its white, orange and yellow layers shaped like a maize kernel, dates from the 1880s in Philadelphia and was first sold as 'Chicken Feed'; it only became tied to Halloween decades later and contains no actual corn.