The history of chocolate is really pretty cool. (But what about chocolate isn’t cool?) The first known history of chocolate dates back about 2000 years ago.
1. Ancient peoples of Mexico and Central America ground down cacao beans and added spices to make a chocolate drink. The “chocolate” drink was also important in religious ceremonies, and was called the “fruit of the gods”.
2. When Cortes conquered Mexico, he and his Spanish conquistadors took the cacao beans back with them to Spain, and enlarged and expanded upon the original drink recipe to make other kinds of chocolate drinks.
3. The popularity of the chocolate drink spread all across Europe.
4. Eventually, there was such a demand for chocolate that plantations were developed in growing regions around the world, using slave labor to cultivate the cacao beans. The English had plantations in Sri Lanka and near the equator; the Dutch in Venezuela, Java, and Sumatra, and the French in the West Indies.
5. Because so many of the laborers died from illness, or poor conditions, the need for a labor force became great enough that plantations were developed in Africa, particularly in the Cote’ de Azur (Ivory Coast) and in Ghana.
6. Chocolate drinking houses were opened all across Europe, and usually only the elite or the aristocracy had access to chocolate. At one point, milk and sugar were added to make the chocolate drink less bitter (a form of hot chocolate).
7. In the late 1700’s solid chocolates were being produced, and sold to the general public. But the texture and refinement of chocolate had not yet taken place. During the industrial revolution, machinery was developed that took over much of the hand labor used to make chocolate. At this point, the texture and smoothness of chocolate greatly improved.
8. The first solid chocolate candy was produced by a company called Doret in Turin, Italy and sold by a guy named Caffarel from about 1826. (Caffarel is still in business in Italy, owned by Lindt & Sprungli.) Then in 1828, a dutchman named Van Houten invented a machine that removed the bitter taste from chocolate which led to the first chocolate candy bar.
9. J.S. Fry & Sons, a British company, produced the first chocolate candy bar in the world in the mid-1800’s. (Known by a number of different names, J.S. Fry & Sons merged with Cadbury in the early 1900’s.) Over the years, this company produced several hundred novelty chocolate confections. As a side note, Cadbury announced the closing of J.S. Fry & Sons in 2010, and after the takeover by Kraft Foods, it was closed in 2011.
10. The first milk chocolate was produced by the Swiss, Nestle helped preserve the shelf life, and Lindt improved the quality by refining how the chocolate is ground and then blended for a smooth taste and texture.
11. In the early 1900’s, Milton Hershey was the first person to mass produce chocolate with his chocolate bars. Hershey Chocolate Kisses followed quickly.
12. Here are the current chocolate industry statistics:
-The top five chocolate companies in sales are (in order): Kraft Foods, Mars (both U.S.), Nestle (Swiss), Ferraro Group (Italy), and Hershey (U.S.).
-Who eats the most chocolate? That would be the Swiss at a little over 22 pounds per person per year (gasp!). They are followed by the Austrians at a little over 20 pounds per person, and Ireland at a little over 19 pounds. The U.S. ranks 8th in the world at a little over 11 pounds per person per year.