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Received this history of chocolate from Godiva today. It is part of a timeline showing when the different forms of chocolate were invented. According to this, Hershey milk chocolate bars weren't invented for our time, but cocoa powder and dark chocolate bars were. That leads to more questions.
How common and everyday was the use of chocolate?
In what forms was it used?
What recipes included it?
What forms of chocolate were available to the soldiers?
What chocolate treats would have been sent from home?
Are there accounts of hot chocolate in either civilian or soldier resources?
What other foods were just coming into popularity for our time and would have been novel enough to merit mention in letters or magazines?
1815 - Dutch Treat
Dutch chemist Johannes Van Houten begins experiments that result in the discovery of a new kind of powdered chocolate with a very low fat content - what we now know as cocoa. Van Houten's patented process involves the use of alkaline salts to treat the powdered chocolate and this "Dutching," as the technique is known, improves the chocolate's ability to dissolve in warm water and makes it darker in color and milder in flavor. Van Houten also builds a hydraulic press that makes possible for the first time mass production of chocolate both in an easy-to-use powdered form and in solid form.
1819 - The Swiss Get The Hang Of It
One hundred twenty two years after the mayor of Zurich brought chocolate back with him from Brussels, the Swiss develop a knack for making chocolate and Francois Louis Cailler opens the first Swiss chocolate factory on Lake Geneva. Not to be outdone, six years later Philippe Suchard builds his own machines, including the world's first chocolate mixer, and starts making his own confections.
1847 - A New Taste Sensation
If J.S. Fry & Sons of Bristol, founded in 1728, is not the oldest chocolate factory in England, it certainly is its most enduring and innovative. In fact, one son, Joseph, had the ingenuity to purchase and install a steam engine in his factory in 1789 soon after Watt invented the machine. A grandson, Francis, and a great grandson, another Joseph, carry on the tradition of innovation by adopting Van Houten's process and press and discovering a way to combine cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter to make the first real chocolate bars.
1879 - Milking The Process
Once they get started, the Swiss quickly show the world just how much they love their chocolate. They are the first to add powdered milk to the process and they refine the chocolate making art by introducing a "conching" machine that gives chocolate confections a smooth, creamy texture.
1895 - Now Everybody Can Have Some
America's love affair with chocolate heats up when Milton S. Hershey sells his first Hershey Bar in Pennsylvania using modern, mass-production techniques that make the product less expensive and, thus, available for mass consumption.
How common and everyday was the use of chocolate?
In what forms was it used?
What recipes included it?
What forms of chocolate were available to the soldiers?
What chocolate treats would have been sent from home?
Are there accounts of hot chocolate in either civilian or soldier resources?
What other foods were just coming into popularity for our time and would have been novel enough to merit mention in letters or magazines?
1815 - Dutch Treat
Dutch chemist Johannes Van Houten begins experiments that result in the discovery of a new kind of powdered chocolate with a very low fat content - what we now know as cocoa. Van Houten's patented process involves the use of alkaline salts to treat the powdered chocolate and this "Dutching," as the technique is known, improves the chocolate's ability to dissolve in warm water and makes it darker in color and milder in flavor. Van Houten also builds a hydraulic press that makes possible for the first time mass production of chocolate both in an easy-to-use powdered form and in solid form.
1819 - The Swiss Get The Hang Of It
One hundred twenty two years after the mayor of Zurich brought chocolate back with him from Brussels, the Swiss develop a knack for making chocolate and Francois Louis Cailler opens the first Swiss chocolate factory on Lake Geneva. Not to be outdone, six years later Philippe Suchard builds his own machines, including the world's first chocolate mixer, and starts making his own confections.
1847 - A New Taste Sensation
If J.S. Fry & Sons of Bristol, founded in 1728, is not the oldest chocolate factory in England, it certainly is its most enduring and innovative. In fact, one son, Joseph, had the ingenuity to purchase and install a steam engine in his factory in 1789 soon after Watt invented the machine. A grandson, Francis, and a great grandson, another Joseph, carry on the tradition of innovation by adopting Van Houten's process and press and discovering a way to combine cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter to make the first real chocolate bars.
1879 - Milking The Process
Once they get started, the Swiss quickly show the world just how much they love their chocolate. They are the first to add powdered milk to the process and they refine the chocolate making art by introducing a "conching" machine that gives chocolate confections a smooth, creamy texture.
1895 - Now Everybody Can Have Some
America's love affair with chocolate heats up when Milton S. Hershey sells his first Hershey Bar in Pennsylvania using modern, mass-production techniques that make the product less expensive and, thus, available for mass consumption.
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