So you should be getting Easter eggs today from the Easter Hare.
Yes, there is a difference! Hares are larger, haven’t been domesticated, and live in flattened nest-like areas of grass called forms rather than underground.
Where did this idea start?
The legend of the Easter Bunny can be traced back to a 16th-century German character named Osterhase, or “the Easter Hare.” He is mentioned in De ovis paschalibus (About Easter Eggs) by Georg Franck von Frankenau.
So, he’s the bringer of chocolate eggs, right?
Well originally the “Easter Hare” played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children had been good or bad. A sort of Father Christmas for Easter. Instead of bringing gifts, this benefactor brought coloured eggs in his basket.
Where did the idea of chocolate eggs come from?
Some enterprising chocolatiers and confectioners in Europe and USA in the 1800s. As chocolate became easier to make and thus more affordable, the tradition spread.
Chocolate eggs were made in France and Germany 200 years ago as solid eggs, not the hollow ones we see today.
How tall was the tallest chocolate Easter egg?
According to the Guinness world records the tallest chocolate Easter egg measured 10.39 m (34 ft 1.05 in) and had a circumference of 19.6 m (64 ft 3.65 in) at its widest point. It was made by Tosca and measured at Le Acciaierie Shopping Centre, in Cortenuova, Italy on 16 April 2011.
The chocolate Easter egg weighed 7,200 kg (15,873 lbs 4.48 oz).
Why are chocolate Easter Bunnies Hollow?
Hollow bunnies are easier to eat.
“If you had a larger-size bunny and it was solid chocolate, it would be like a brick; you’d be breaking teeth,” says Mark Schlott, one of the manufacturers of hollow chocolate bunnies.
