Process Technology
Chocolate Through the Years
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A Modern Art |
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American-made
chocolate and cocoa products number in the hundreds. There is
a fascinating story behind these wonderful products. To tell
that story and to provide a better understanding of the
chocolate industry and its long-standing traditions is the
purpose of this booklet. The Story of Chocolate is
essentially a layman's introduction to the subject. It will
provide readers an opportunity to view the industry as a
whole.
Particular
emphasis has been given to the activities that have made the
chocolate industry distinctive from all other industries.
Each activity is characterized by a heritage of quality
workmanship-certainly one of the hallmarks of chocolate
making.
Chocolate making
is much more than a series of scientific and mechanical
phenomena. In a word, it is a true art, which started
centuries ago and has been preserved and perfected to make
chocolate America's favorite flavor.
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Chocolate Through the Years |
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The story of chocolate, as far back as we know it, begins with the
discovery of America. Until 1492, the Old World knew nothing
at all about the delicious and stimulating flavor that was to
become the favorite of millions.
The Court of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella got its first look
at the principal ingredient of chocolate when Columbus returned
in triumph from America and laid before the Spanish throne a
treasure trove of many strange and wonderful things. Among
these were a few dark brown beans that looked like almonds
and seemed most unpromising. They were cocoa beans, today's
source of all our chocolate and cocoa.
The King and Queen never dreamed how important cocoa beans could
be, and it remained for Hernando Cortez, the great Spanish explorer,
to grasp the commercial possibilities of the New World offerings.
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Food of the Gods |
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During his
conquest of Mexico, Cortez found the Aztec Indians using
cocoa beans in the preparation of the royal drink of the
realm, "chocolatl," meaning warm liquid. In 1519,
Emperor Montezuma, who reportedly drank 50 or more portions
daily, served chocolatl to his Spanish guests in great golden
goblets, treating it like a food for the gods.
For all its regal
importance, however, Montezuma's chocolatl was very bitter,
and the Spaniards did not find it to their taste. To make the
concoction more agreeable to Europeans, Cortez and his
countrymen conceived the idea of sweetening it with cane
sugar.
While they took
chocolatl back to Spain, the idea found favor and the drink
underwent several more changes with newly discovered spices,
such as cinnamon and vanilla. Ultimately, someone decided the
drink would taste better if served hot.
The new drink
quickly won friends, especially among the Spanish
aristocracy. Spain wisely proceeded to plant cacao in its
overseas colonies, which gave birth to a very profitable
business. Remarkably enough, the Spanish succeeded in keeping
the art of the cocoa industry a secret from the rest of
Europe for nearly a hundred years.
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Chocolate Spreads to Europe |
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Spanish monks, who
had been consigned to process the cocoa beans, finally let
the secret out. It did not take long before chocolate was
acclaimed throughout Europe as a delicious, health-giving
food. For a while it reigned as the drink at the fashionable
Court of France. Chocolate drinking spread across the Channel
to Great Britain, and in 1657 the first of many famous
English Chocolate Houses appeared.
The hand methods
of manufacture used by small shops gave way in time to the
mass production of chocolate. The transition was hastened by
the advent of a perfected steam engine, which mechanized the
cocoa grinding process. By 1730, chocolate had dropped in
price from three dollars or more per pound to within
financial reach of all. The invention of the cocoa press in
1828 reduced the prices even further and helped to improve
the quality of the beverage by squeezing out part of the
cocoa butter, the fat that occurs naturally in cocoa beans.
From then on, drinking chocolate had more of the smooth
consistency and the pleasing flavor it has today.
The 19th Century
marked two more revolutionary developments in the history of
chocolate. In 1847, an English company introduced solid
"eating chocolate" through the development of
fondant chocolate, a smooth and velvety variety that has
almost completely replaced the old coarse grained chocolate
which formerly dominated the world market. The second
development occurred in 1876 in Vevey, Switzerland, when
Daniel Peter devised a way of adding milk to the chocolate,
creating the product we enjoy today known as milk chocolate.
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Chocolate Comes to America |
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In the United
States of America, the production of chocolate proceeded at a
faster pace than anywhere else in the world. It was in
pre-Revolutionary New England-1765, to be exact-that the
first chocolate factory was established in this country.
Chocolate has
gained so much importance since that time, that any
interruption in its supply would be keenly felt.
During World War
II, the U.S. government recognized chocolate's role in the
nourishment and group spirit of the Allied Armed Forces, so
much so that it allocated valuable shipping space for the
importation of cocoa beans. Many soldiers were thankful for
the pocket chocolate bars which gave them the strength to
carry on until more food rations could be obtained. Today,
the U.S. Army D-rations include three 4-ounce chocolate bars.
Chocolate has even been taken into space as part of the diet
of U.S. astronauts.
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