With the price of cocoa beans setting unprecedented records on the commodities market, it will certainly turn the gift of love into a bigger financial commitment than it once was. Turns out that if love is reputed to be eternal, a low price for cocoa, the essential ingredient in chocolate, is not.

Roses are red, violets are blue, chocolate is rich -- and more expensive now too. Crushing diseases that purged cocoa crops in West Africa, combined with a difficult growing season -- similar to the weather woes that spurred a spike in coffee prices -- have driven up cocoa prices,