It's that time of year again, when heart-shaped boxes litter the store aisles, teddy bears become the gift of choice and love is on everyone's mind. Whether you're a hopeless romantic or Valentine's skeptic, check out these little-known facts about February 14 and love-inducing foods.

 

 

 

 

• More than 36 million boxes of Valentine's chocolate are sold each year.
• Surveys show both men and women think the most romantic place to share candy is in front of the fireplace
• Eight billion conversation candy hearts will be manufactured this year. That's enough candy to wrap around the world almost 17 times!
• Foot treading of grapes is still used in producing a small quantity of the best port wines.
• Thomas Jefferson helped stock the wine cellars of the first five U.S. presidents and was partial to fine Bordeaux and Madeira.
• Honey doesn't have an expiration date! The unique chemical composition of low water content and relatively high acidic level in honey creates a low pH (3.2-4.5) environment that makes it very unfavorable for bacteria or other micro-organisms to grow.
• To make one pound of honey, the bees in the colony must visit 2 million flowers and fly over 55,000 miles. It will be the lifetime work of approximately 300 bees.
• Honey is the ONLY food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including water.
• A typical beehive can make up to 400 pounds of honey per year.
• Out of 20,000 species of bees, only four make honey.
• Under ideal conditions, an asparagus spear can grow 10" in a 24-hour period.
• When it comes to asparagus, bigger is better. The larger the diameter, the better the quality!
• One could say asparagus is an international food. With its high tolerance for salt and its preference for sandy soils, wild asparagus grows in such diverse places as England, central Wisconsin, Russia and Poland.