Board Thread:General Mod Discussion/@comment-26453572-20160317114645/@comment-26236093-20160318182135

37.49.26.126 wrote: Forten wrote: I don't understand the chocolate either, but I didn't think that corn was just an African thing. Corn grow only in south america, before the europeans it bring into europe. like potatoes and tomatoes. But in the books are corn and potatoes mentioned, so they should be in the shire.

I believe we can assume this is correct seeing as Tolkien based the Shire upon the England of the early twentieth century. How cocoa was obtained remains a mystery, however perhaps some particularly adventurous Hobbits travelled far to the South :)