Chocolate

Chocolate

When was Chocolate invented? Historians tend to agree that Chocolate was invented in c.1800 BC and the first known use of Chocolate was as a beverage consumed by the Mayans, Aztecs and Toltecs during the Bronze Age (1800 - 600 BC) of invention. The modern day chocolate bar was created following the invention of the Cocoa Press by Coenraad van Houten in 1928.

Who invented Chocolate? The name of a specific person has never been credited with the invention of Chocolate. The invention of Chocolate is so old that the name of the inventor has been lost over time, although the first use of Chocolate is believed to have originated in Mesoamerica. The invention of Chocolate is considered a fun, delicious addition to the field of Food and Drink.

Definition of Chocolate: Chocolate is defined as a food in the form of a paste or solid block (usually brown) that is made from roasted and ground cacao seeds, typically sweetened and eaten as confectionery or used as a flavoring ingredient for hot chocolate drinks or other sweet foods.

 

Facts about who invented Chocolate

 

 Inventions and Inventors Index

 

Fact File: Who invented Chocolate? Date of Invention: c.1800 BC *** Name of Inventor: Unknown Mesoamerican *** Historical Period: Bronze Age (1800 - 600 BC) *** Category: Food and Drink *** Country of Origin: Americas ***

Fact 1: Who invented Chocolate? The name of the inventor of Chocolate is unknown but it is believed to have been invented in c.1800 BC during the Bronze Age (1800 - 600 BC) era of inventions in the area of Food and Drink.

Fact 2: Who invented Chocolate? Chocolate was originally enjoyed as a drink, a paste or cake made of ground, roasted, sweetened cacao seeds.

Fact 3: Who invented Chocolate? The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant that is indigenous to the equatorial regions of the Americas that was cultivated more than 3000 years ago by the Aztecs, Mayans and Toltecs.

Fact 4: Who invented Chocolate? The origin of the word "chocolate" can be traced to the Aztec word "xocoatl" meaning 'bitter water' in reference to a bitter drink brewed with water, spices, herbs and cacao beans found in central Mexico. The types of spices and flavorings used in the preparation of the Mesoamerican brew included vanilla, oregano, anise, honey, chili and the  highly aromatic inner bark of the Canella.

Fact 5: Who invented Chocolate? The "xocoatl" bitter chocolate drink was made by roasting the broken kernels in an in earthen pot which were then ground to a paste using a small stone in a slightly hollowed oblong stone, called a 'metate', over a small fire. Vanilla, honey and chili were added and the mixture was fashioned into small cakes which were placed on shiny leaves and left to cool and harden in the shade. The cakes were broken up, mixed with hot water, and beaten to foamy consistency with a small wooden beater.  The rich head of foam was set aside and then placed on top of the beverage called xocoatl

Fact 6: Who invented Chocolate? Cocao was revered by the early Mesoamericans, including the Mayans and the Aztecs, as the "Food of the Gods" and was the beverage of priests, warriors and nobles who abstained from the beverage during their periods of fasting.

Fact 7: Who invented Chocolate? The bitter chocolate drink made from cocao beans was introduced to Europe via the explorers and conquistadores who embarked on voyages of discovery to the New World.

Fact 8: Who invented Chocolate? Christopher Columbus 'discovered' cocoa beans on August 15, 1502, when he robbed the cargo of a native Mayan trader near Nicaragua. Cocoa beans were included in the cargo and were treated with such great reverence by the Mayans that Columbus believed they were valuable and took them back to Spain. Christopher Columbus mistakenly believed that the Cocoa beans were a type of almond. Columbus noted that "They [Mayans] seemed to hold these almonds at a great price; for when they were brought on board ship together with their goods, I observed that when any of these almonds fell, they all stooped to pick it up, as if an eye had fallen".

Fact 9: Who invented Chocolate? The Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortes realised the commercial potential of "xocoatl" when he brought cocoa beans back to Spain in 1528.

Fact 10: Who invented Chocolate? The Mesoamerican Chocolate drink was too bitter for Spanish taste so they sweetened the beverage with sugar, , vanilla, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and cinnamon.

Fact 11: Who invented Chocolate? The new, delicious Spanish drink was a huge success and became highly fashionable amongst the royals and nobles. The Spanish closely guarded the secret of its "xocoatl" beverage from the rest of Europe for nearly 100 years.

Fact 12: Who invented Chocolate? The secret was first revealed when Princess Ann of Austria, daughter of King Philip II from Spain, introduced the beverage to her new husband, King Louis XIII of France and his French court in 1615.

Fact 13: Who invented Chocolate? Then in 1643 the Spanish Princess Maria Theresa gave an engagement gift of chocolate to King Louis XIV of France (the Sun King) and the popularity of the drink became a firm favorite at his Court at Versailles. 

Fact 14: Who invented Chocolate? The French king appointed Sieur David Illou to manufacture and sell chocolate, creating a chocolate-mania in Paris and creating a new stream of income.

Fact 15: Who invented Chocolate? The Drinking beverage was introduced to England when London's first chocolate shop was opened by a Frenchman in the Queen’s Head Alley in Bishopsgate Street, East London. Drinking Chocolate became highly fashionable and was boosted by various claims that it was a powerful aphrodisiac, would boost fertility and cure all sorts of illnesses. The famous diarist Samuel Pepys believed that the chocolate drink was the perfect cure for a hangover, noting in his diary that it relieved his ‘sad head’ and ‘imbecilic stomach’ the day after celebrations at the coronation of King Charles II’

Fact 16: Who invented Chocolate? The most famous chocolate houses in London were Ozinda’s and White’s, both on St James’s Street, and the Cocoa Tree on Pall Mall. In 1730 the product became less expensive when the cocoa grinding process was mechanized and the drink became more available.

Fact 17: Who invented Chocolate? In 1765 chocolate manufacture started in the American colonies at Dorchester, Massachusetts, using cocoa beans from the West Indies.

Fact 18: Who invented Chocolate?  In 1828 the Dutch inventor Coenraad van Houten, the son of a confectionary factory owner in Amsterdam, invented the Cocoa Press that improved the quality of the beverage by squeezing out part of the cocoa butter. This process created a "cake" that could be pulverized into cocoa powder.

 Fact 19: Who invented Chocolate? The invention of the Cocoa Press made it possible to combine the cocoa powder with sugar and then remix it with cocoa butter to create a solid type of eating chocolate, similar to the type we enjoy today.

Fact 20: Who invented Chocolate? Coenraad van Houten' patent expired in 1838 allowing other manufacturers to produce cocoa powder and experiment with making new products.

Fact 21: Who invented Chocolate? The invention of the treat as we know it today was made in 1847 when the English chocolate maker J. S. Fry & Son of Bristol, England, owned by Joseph Storrs Fry, produced arguably the first chocolate bar. In 1847, the Fry's chocolate factory moulded a bar suitable for large-scale production and the company began producing the Fry's Chocolate Cream bar in 1866.

Fact 20: Who invented Chocolate? In 1866, the Cadbury brothers launched a new product, Cadbury Cocoa Essence. They found that they had lots of cocoa butter left over, so they used it to make bars of chocolate and in 1897 Cadbury launched its first milk chocolate bar. In 1905 Cadbury Dairy Milk was launched.

Fact 22: Who invented Chocolate? In 1875 the Swiss chocolatier Daniel Peter (1836 – 1919) invented milk chocolate by mixing a powdered milk, developed by Henri Nestlé, with the melted cacao butter.

Fact 23: In 1879, the taste and the texture of chocolate improved even further when Rodolphe Lindt, the Swiss manufacturer, invented the conching machine, mixer and agitator, that reduced the sizes and 'polished' the particle of both cocoa solids and sugar crystals.

Fact 24: In 1893 the American confectioner Milton Hershey (1857 – 1945) opened a factory in Pennsylvania and created what is known as the first "American" Candy bar and in 1900 launched Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar. In 1904 Nestlé began selling chocolate bars for the first time.

Fact 25: The invention of Chocolate led to the invention of  the Chocolate Chip Cookie by Ruth Graves Wakefield in 1938. We have all enjoyed chocolate and cookies ever since!

Fast Info and Fact File: Country of Origin: Mesoamerica *** Name of Inventor: Unknown *** Nationality of Inventor: Mesoamerican *** Date of Invention: c.1800 BC *** Invention Era: Bronze Age (1800 - 600 BC) *** Invention category: Food and Drink ***

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