British Chocolate Manufacturers

A History of Chocolate After reading The History of Chocolate by Diner’s Digest it is easy to understand that the main idea of the story is about the history of chocolate. For example, how it all started and how it changed over the years. The history of chocolate a beverage and ended in a bar. To begin with the history of chocolate all started with the Olmecs, an ancient civilization, in southern Mexico which thrived from 1500 B.C. to 400 B.C. Then it got passed along to the Mayan civilization. The Mayans used chocolate mainly as a drink. They usually flavored it with herbs, spices, or even chili. Then they shaked it back and forth to make it foamy. Next came the Aztecs, they thought the beverage was beneficial to warriors in battle. Another way cocoa was used was in currency. There was an official Aztec document saying a list of price equivalents. Next, a descendant of Mayans, the Kekchi Mayans presented crates of chocolate to Prince Philip. It was all frothed and ready to drunk by the Europeans. When Swedish botanist Carolus Linnaeus classified the “cocoa bean” he gave it the scientific name of Theobroma which meant “food of the gods’” in Greek. Another manufacturer, Coenrad Van Houten, produced a way for making chocolate powder. He did it using hydraulic pressure to remove the natural fat from it. Then that produced a hard cake which was crushed into powder. This was then mixed with water to make a chocolate drink. Next came the Joseph Fry & Son, British chocolate manufacturers, which was founded by a Quaker. The Quaker was a doctor before finding that company. In 1847 they discovered a way of converting melted cocoa butter to “Dutched” cocoa butter (which was sweetened). This would create a paste that would be pressed into molds. This created a bar that turned to be a big hit. Last Daniel Peter (Swiss Chocolate Manufacturer) unsuccessfully repeatedly tried to make a milk flavored chocolate. But in 1867 Henri Nestle created the first milk