5 Fun Facts About Easter Eggs

As we all know, Easter is all about the eggs. Here are 5 Fun Facts About Easter Eggs.


1. The UK's first chocolate egg was produced in 1873 by Fry’s of Bristol (who merged with Cadbury in 1919). Fry's of Bristol were not the first to produce a chocolate egg, though. They have been around in France and Germany since the early 19th century. Most were solid, unlike the hollow eggs we're familiar with nowadays. Imagine biting into a solid egg. Sheesh, you'd break your teeth. But it might be worth it. The problem was in the mould. It was green and furry and had a mind of its own. It would attack those who were trying to mould the eggs with a mould so the mould would attack the moulders and even a Scully or two. Wait, I might be getting my moulds mixed up. Or mold, if you're American. Back in the day, they had to line the moulds with paste as they hadn't found a successful method of pouring the liquid chocolate into the moulds. But those eggs-traordinary people would crack it eventually. Oh, gimme a break, I had to get one in.


2. The world's most popular Easter Egg is the Cadbury's Crème Egg. Or, as it's called in Canada, the Oeuf-Fondant. It's a small chocolate egg filled with sugary, gooey goodness which, since this year, is now made with crappier chocolate and more than a bit smaller. To top it off, it also costs more money to buy. You don't get them in packs of six anymore, they are sold in less enjoyable packs of five. A Cadbury spokesman said that they had conducted a range of customer surveys and focus groups and this new smaller, crappier egg is the product of Cadbury ignoring everything and anything they said. Because, seriously, who is going to say they want a smaller product that costs more money and made with lesser quality ingredients?


3. The tallest chocolate Easter egg was made in Italy in 2011. It measured over ten metres in height and weighed over 15,000 pounds. But making the egg wasn't the tricky part. Trying to hide the egg from the kids taking part in the traditional Easter Egg Hunt was down right difficult. In the end, they balanced a brontosaurus on top of a blue whale resting on three thousand hedgehogs in front of the egg. It was only found when one very smart kid realised something was wrong. The health and safety people would never have allowed a whale to rest on a bed of hedgehogs. But, Wow! A Brontosaurus!


4. In 2007, a Faberge egg covered in diamonds sold for almost £9 million. It's a pretty special egg. Every hour a cockerel made of jewels pops up from the top of the egg, flaps its wings four times, nods its head three times, and makes a crowing noise. Yep, that's one impressive egg. And that was me being totally serious. I didn't make any of that up. It's all true. It happened. Sheesh, you guys are so suspicious. The gold and pink enamel egg was made for the engagement of Germaine Halphen and Baron Edouard de Rothschild as an engagement gift for the Baron's fiancé. Because, if you had to spend £9 million, who wants an iPhone or a Ferrari, or massive castle, spaceship, or maybe a herd of life-sized brontosaurus? Nope. Give me a crowing, flapping, nodding cockerel in an egg any day of the week.


5. A tradition at Easter is the Easter Egg Hunt. An invention by parents to keep their kids busy for an hour or two. The largest Easter Egg hunt was held in Cypress Gardens, Florida, back in 2007 when nearly 10,000 kids searched for over half a million eggs. There was, apparently, no limit to the number of eggs each child could find, and one kid gobbled up over thirty-eight thousand of the little suckers before throwing up and passing out in a row boat. He still had room for a McDonald's on the way home, though.


The Easter Egg Hunt was originally planned for Bush Gardens, also in Florida, but was cancelled when someone pointed out the dangers of hiding eggs in the lion enclosure. So, kids, how desperate are you for those chocolate eggs? Would you wrestle a lion for one?