What’s up with Chocolate Bunnies?

Suffering the prediction of the groundhog, winter has been dragged out, but finally, we are experiencing the blooms and warm weather that accompany a long-awaited spring. Beautiful weather and your favorite flowers are only the start, as spring also means chocolate bunnies taking over every corner of your local grocery store. Large and small, chocolate bunnies are one of the most popular holiday candies in the world next to giants like candy canes. 

Similar to Christmas, the origins of the Easter bunny came from German folklore, which told of a hare that would come out of hibernation and lay colored eggs for well-behaving children. This tradition continued in America when immigrants started to come in the early 1700s, and by the late 19th century it was common folklore in America. 

Smart business people also thought that a bunny could sell better than a hare, and so we are now talking about easter bunnies instead. Chocolate bunnies hopped into American culture in the 1890s when a drug store owner created a five-foot chocolate bunny to promote his store. 

Already a growing tradition to give children candy on Easter instead of eggs, the giant bunny marked a cultural shift that pushed the chocolate bunny to the forefront of Easter celebrations. Often made hollow to cut costs for the producer and customer, baskets of chocolate bunnies are now the popular trend. Fun fact, a group of bunnies is called a fluffle in Northern Canada. Luckily, we are given a fluffle of chocolate bunnies instead of a “flick” of chocolate hares. 

Of course, the tradition of giant chocolate bunnies has continued long past its now historical five foot bunny and is widely contested across the world to make the biggest. The world record for the largest chocolate bunny is a whopping 14.8 feet tall, made in 2017 by Brazilian chocolatier Casa do Chocolate. Over eight days, the final weight of the bunny was an even more astounding, 9,359 pounds of milk chocolate.

We wish you a happy holiday, whether that is spent between a warm family meal, hiding hard-boiled eggs, or looking up how people put nine and a half thousand pounds of chocolate together.