At chocri, we will often highlight one of our very many toppings on its national day or month. We know our toppings inventory is pretty extensive. How do you choose which ones to try on your very own chocolate creation?

This month, we're celebrating papaya. September is National Papaya Month, and the tropical fruit is an excellent way to work more Vitamin C into your diet in a tasty, tangy way. In addition to being totally tropically delicious, papaya is hella versatile- it's popular in sweet dishes, savory ones like curries, and it even has medicinal applications. (It's also very common in spas for its natural exfoliating abilities.)

To honor National Papaya Month, we've marked papaya down 50% for all of September. So in addition to being a bright, flavorful and delicious addition to any chocri creation, Papaya is also an attractively priced one. You can find papaya on the fruit page of our "create your own" section.

Need some help in pairing papaya? Our recommendation engine can help you decide which toppings to add to your papaya-inclusive chocri.

Image: Flickr

Today is our birthday! We've been in the US only for a few months, but chocri as a company is turning two!

2 years ago, chocri was founded by Franz Duge and Michael Bruck in Germany. The world's first company that allows you to design your own chocolate bars - no one had ever done anything like this before!

Below some fun milestones in the "history" of chocri, but before that, we of course want to share our joy with you! That's why today, and today only, we're offering a 20% coupon code! There's only 200 of them - first come, first serve. 20% off your bars, only today, with the code "chocri2" when you enter it at checkout.

Chocri wouldn't be here without you - without you being creative, making your own chocolate bars, and without you recommending us to your friends. We are very, very grateful for that. Thank you.

We look forward to many more awesome years!

A quick history of chocri

April 2008
Franz is desperately looking for a birthday gift for his girlfriend- nothing comes to mind! Last minute, he uses some of the chocolate from his and Michael's chocolate fountain business, melts it and decorates it with gummy bears and trail mix - the first chocri was born. Shortly after, a business idea is born, too

September 2008
After months of preparation, chocri is ready to launch! Franz and Michael are a bit worried - will they sell enough chocolate bars to cover the fixed costs? They need to sell at least 500 bars personalized chocolate bars a month!

Franz and Micha right after they founded chocri. They now look dramatically different today - Franz's hair is a bit more tamed and Micha's about half this size. They will hate me for putting it up! ;)

October 2008
chocri is hustling! A few newspapers covered the story of the two friends, and the young company is flooded with orders. Friends and family are helping to create customized chocolate bars.

December 2008
People love chocri's customized chocolate bars because they are such a unique christmas gift! But chocri can't keep up with demand - they literally "sell out" and don't accept orders online anymore

April 2009
Chocri moves to a new facility to increase production - now three times as big! They now produce about 18,000 customized chocolate bars per month. Also, chocri redesigns its website. It's now much prettier - as you see it today!

June 2009
A German MBA student from U Chicago starts to plan the entry of chocri to the US market. That was me!

September 2009
Chocri win's the Founders Award - one of the most prestigious awards for startups! They receive 300,000 Euro in services from an advertising agency, law firm and others

December 2009
Alas, increasing the production was still not enough - demand has increased even more! Chocri sells out before Christmas, again.

January 2010
Chocri launches in the US! The new website is featured by Thrillist and Self Magazine, Epicurious and many others in the month of the launch

March 2010
Internet celebrities Gary Vaynerchuk, Violet Blue, Leah Culver and Dave Morin make a chocri chocolate bar each for the conference South By Southwest.

April 2010
Chocri introduces a fourth base chocolate. The possibilities explode! There's tens of billions of ways to make your own chocolate bar on the site!

June 2010
Chocri moves again - we now make about 50,000 bars every month, and are beginning to prepare for this year's holiday season - this time we won't sell out early!

July 2010
Customized chocolate bars are now also available in Canada!

August 2010
Chocri's sexy recommendation engine makes it much easier to create your own chocolate bar - based on the analysis of thousand of previous orders, it recommends toppings that pair well with what you've already selected

September 2010
That's today!

If you're a fan of the tasty amalgam of high-energy sweet and nutrient-rich nutty and fruitiness that is trail mix, you might want to check out our National Trail Mix Day Chocolate Bar in the Recommended Creations section.

We introduced the bar last week, (and we told you a little bit about the origins of chocri.) Here at chocri, we had our own ideas about what kind of spin to put on a trail mix bar- walnuts, raisins and chocolate? Macadamias, pistachios, figs and chocolate? We couldn't really decide, so we turned the question out to you all on Facebook, and crafted what we think is a pretty fantastic version of trail mix.

As we pointed out earlier, while this bar embodies all the wonderful variety and healthy crunch of trail mix, we also it all together in a neat chocolatey package. And let's face it- isn't the best part about trail mix picking out all the chocolate, anyway? The National Trail Mix Day Bar is a limited edition recommended creation- and as always, if you order five, we always include a surprise bar, on us.

August... over, almost. Labor day approaches, and school's already back in session in several parts of the US. (Not up here in New York, though!) And in keeping with tradition, here's this week's top five bar names. Which is your favorite?

• Edhoclate (Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut Brittle, Strawberry Chocolate Drops, Cappuccino Chocolate Drops, Rice Crispies in Chocolate Coating and Toffee)

• I Was There... (Dark Chocolate with Real Gold Flakes) Excuse to link to Johnny Cash!

• Blueberry Nutgasm (Dark Chocolate with Blueberries, Fleur de Sel and Macadamia Nuts) I'll have what she's having.

• pretzel Porknut supreme (Milk Chocolate with Cashews, Organic Salt Pretzels and Soy Bacon) Officially the manliest bar we've made yet.

• there might be dragons (Strawberry Chocolate with Blueberries, Fleur de Sel and Cocoa Nibs) I've seen them in concert thirty times!

Feeling creative but need a nudge? Check out our new recommendation engine- it will start working after you select a base chocolate!