September 27 is National Chocolate Milk Day.

According to CNN, “Until the 1820s, drinking chocolate was fairly uncommon and no one knew how to produce a smooth chocolate taste in liquid form. In 1828 the Van Houten company in Amsterdam invented the cocoa pressing method. This produced a light, fluffy chocolate powder that could be easily dissolved in water or milk.”

Oh, then chocolate milk doesn’t come from a chocolate cow? No, Hershey busted that myth in this 1983 commercial. I strongly suspect that this ad was part of the inspiration behind Homer’s “Land of Chocolate” fantasy in The Simpsons. Watch them both and see if you agree.

Hershey’s Chocolate Milk, chocolate cow commercial (1983)

Homer dreams of the Land of Chocolate, The Simpsons (1991)

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• September 27 – National Chocolate Milk Day (ireport.cnn.com)