Chocolate-lovers looking to satisfy their cravings can book a last minute, week-long trip with To Tuscany Villas to Perugia’s Eurochocolate Festival in October for just £225pp. For £690, four people can stay at villa Morleschio, a typical Italian cottage only 15 minutes drive from the beautiful city of Perugia and the Eurochocolate Festival. With return flights from Stansted Airport to Perugia currently at around £52pp for a 15^th Oct departure - working out at around £225pp for the whole trip… a great excuse for a last minute autumnal chocolate treat!

Ten chocolate facts every girl should know…

1. All chocolate contains chocolate liquor, which is simply the ground or melted state of the cacao bean minus its shell. It doesn’t contain any actual alcohol or liquor and without it, you wouldn’t have chocolate! Chocolate liquor is naturally made up of cocoa solids and around 53% cocoa butter, which is fat.
2. The cocoa percentage on chocolate packaging refers to its chocolate liquor content. So this includes the cocoa butter and does not just refer to the cocoa solids in the chocolate.
3. Dark chocolate should contain at least 35% chocolate liquor, according to European rules. Extra cocoa butter and sugar are added in varying amounts to the chocolate liquor to make chocolate. Milk chocolate should contain a minimum of 25% chocolate liquor and has added milk powder or condensed milk; while white chocolate contains no cocoa solids at all!
4. Dark chocolate can help reduce high blood pressure. Recent studies have found that the antioxidants (nearly eight times more than those found in strawberries!) and other beneficial substances in dark chocolate can help to reduce blood pressure, but only in people with high blood pressure.
5. Dark chocolate can help to reduce emotional stress. Recent studies have also found that a daily consumption of 40g of dark chocolate can help to modify the metabolism of healthy people. 
6. To benefit from the nutritional properties of dark chocolate, you need to ‘offset’ its calories. That means if you add 100 ‘dark chocolate calories’ to your daily consumption, you need to shave off those calories from your diet elsewhere or make sure you exercise them off to avoid obesity. It won’t do you any good to just eat dark chocolate on top of your daily diet!
7. Avoid vanillin (fake vanilla) and hydrogenated oils in chocolate. The first is a cheaper alternative to the real thing, while the latter carries a health risk.
8. Don’t store chocolate in the fridge. Chocolate should be stored in a cool (around 16-20 degrees Celsius), dry place and away from strong odours to keep it tasting fresh.  Fridges are too cold, too humid and often contain some strong odours which the chocolate is prone to absorb.
9. Some Ivory Coast cocoa farmers are known to still use forms of child slavery. To buy chocolate with cocoa that has not been produced with slave labour, look out for a Fair Trade symbol on the packaging. Because organic cocoa beans are currently not available from the Ivory Coast, buying organic chocolate also reduces the chance of it being associated with child slavery.    
10. Dogs are highly allergic to chocolate. Chocolate contains theobromine, which is toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities and can even be deadly to them. For that reason, don’t ever give dogs chocolate and if your pooch has snuck a choc treat, take it to a vet immediately.