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Who invented chocolate bars?
Who invented chocolate bars
There it sits. The greatest thing since sliced bread. In fact, it's better than sliced bread; it's made of chocolate. The chocolate bar! We take chocolate bars for granted. People buy millions every day. But, who invented the chocolate bar? Who was the genius who turned chocolate into a portable, hand-held piece of heaven?
Before the Chocolate Bar
Chocolate was a drink for the first people to discover it. This drink was a favorite of Aztec Emperor Montezuma. Hernando Cortez, the Spanish conquistador, brought the drink back to Spain where it became a favorite of the Spanish royal family.
The Inventor of the Chocolate Bar
In 1847, a man named Joseph Fry and his son took cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and sugar and pressed it into a bar shape, the very first edible solid chocolate bar. Two years later, John Cadbury introduced his own brand of chocolate bars. Rather than becoming rivals, Fry and Cadbury joined forces can become two of the most important chocolatiers in history. The ubiquitous milk chocolate bar would wait another few years. In 1875, Daniel Peter of Switzerland mixed chocolate liquor with a powdered milk that had been invented by Henri Nestle. The final major step in the invention of the chocolate bar occurred in 1879 when Rodolphe Lindt invented the conching machine that improved the taste and texture of the chocolate.
So, John Fry, the inventor of the chocolate bar, isn't even close to the best known of the inventors that contributed to the creation of the chocolate bar as we know it. Fry's is the oldest candy bar in the world. He began selling his Chocolate Cream in 1866 as the first mass-produced and easily available candy bar. The bar has a fondant center with chocolate exterior.
Nestle, with the help of Daniel Peter, created the first stable milk chocolate bar. Nestle, who had been in the milk powder business, helped Peter to stop the mildew that regular milk caused. By changing to dry milk, they invented what we know as milk chocolate. That first bar was called "Gala," which means "from the milk" in Greek.
Other Important People and Events for the Chocolate Bar
There were a number of other important events in the evolution of the chocolate bar and other molded chocolates:
1862 - Rowntree's of York began selling chocolates.
1868 - Cadbury began selling boxed chocolates.
1875 - Cadbury developed a pure cocoa butter that allowed them mold chocolates into any shape. They sold their first Easter eggs because of the invention.
1893 - Milton Hershey begins making chocolate coated caramels with equipment he bought at the World's Columbian Exposition.
There is a period, between chocolate being consumed as a beverage and the invention of the candy bar, where there were some amazing things happening. Some unknown, unsung hero or heroine discovered a way to change liquid chocolate to a solid. No matter who it was, we can thank them a long line of dedicated chocoholics who created the amazing chocolate bar that we know and love today. We salute those Who invented chocolate bars.
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