Americans' deepening love affair with chocolate has spawned an interest in exploring chocolate’s historic roots and telling its tale, as evidenced by the displays at New York Chocolate Week.

For example, American Heritage Chocolate, a Mars company that sells products following authentic 18th century recipes, now is available in more than 80 historic and living history sites across North America.

“The story is also intriguing,” says Gail Broadbright, Mars’ director of emerging market. “People love to enjoy chocolate the way George Washington, Ben Franklin or Thomas Jefferson would have enjoyed it.”

On the social media side of the chocolate business, EatMoreChocolate.com is attempting to create a chocolate-centric blog and TV pilot about all things chocolate.

“The viral nature of chocolate in undeniable,” explains site founder Joe Harberg. “It's no surprise that the terms #chocolate itself is one of the most widely search term on the web. Our goal is to dominate #chocolate on Twitter and connect with as many different businesses through Facebook as we can.”

Since its launch three months ago in mid-September, site traffic has grown to 1,400 Facebook likes. In addition, the site analytics provide an interesting profile of social media savvy chocophiles: They tend to be overwhelmingly female (77%) and young (34% are 18-24 years old).

Of course, as long as chocolate continues to entice and intrigue, it will seduce people from all types of backgrounds.