A History of Chocolate

 

 A brief summary of the history of chocolate which I wrote for history. Enjoy!

A History of Chocolate (9/30/2014)

By Lela

1519-1913

In 1519 Cortez sailed to Mexico and met the Maya. Among many things he discovered about them one was that their royalty drank a rich drink of brewed chocolate beans. Cortez took the drink back to Spain and the Maya began to spread north establishing cocoa plantations. They even used cocoa beans for money. The Aztec found the Mayans using it and began to take it for their own. The Aztecs called it “xocalatl” because it was a warm and bitter drink.

Meanwhile in Europe the beverage had become very popular among the high classes and they began adding sweeteners like vanilla. Cocoa also began to be used as a medicine. In London a Frenchman opened the first chocolate house, charging 15 shilling per pound. 

John Hannan, an Irishman, introduced cocoa beans to the United States in 1865 from the West Indies in 1765. He partnered with Dr. James Baker, an American, and the two created a mill that was famous for making BAKER’S ® chocolate. Thirty years later Dr. Joseph Fry employed a steam engine in order to grind coffee beans on a larger, factory scale.

In 1819 François Louis Callier, inventor of Swiss chocolate, opened the first Swiss chocolate factory. In 1828 Coenraad Johannes van Houten copyrighted a cocoa bean press which improved the industry making chocolate in bars and helped reduce costs, thus cutting prices. In 1847 Joseph Fry and his son made the first modern chocolate bar.

In 1851 Americans were introduced to bonbons, boiled sweets and caramels. Richard Cadbury created the first known heart shaped box of chocolate candies and later John Cadbury began mass-marketing them. Daniel Peter of Vevey experimented with milk chocolate for eight years to create milk chocolate worth eating. In 1879 Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle form the Nestle company. Rodolphe Lindt of Berne invented  a conching machine which created more creamy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate. In 1897 the first known recipe for brownies appears in a Sears and Roebuck catalogue. A Canadian, Arthur Ganong, marketed the first nickel chocolate bar. In 1913 a Swiss named Jules Sechaud introduced a machine for filling chocolates.