A drink becomes edible

In years past, making hot chocolate was a rather complicated endeavour requiring special equipment such as a chocolatière and molinillo (whisk). In order to make the product more accessible and easier to produce, some of the cocoa butter had to be removed.

In 1828, Dutchman Coenraad Van Houten came up with a method for pressing the fat from roasted cocoa beans to create cocoa powder. (Cocoa butter makes up 55% of the cocoa bean). The popular product soon came to be known as Dutch cocoa and was the basis for edible chocolate.


The first chocolate bar was moulded in Bristol, England in 1847 by Joseph Fry the Younger. Peter Daniel from Nestlé in Switzerland went a step further by adding milk powder to the chocolate, thus creating the first milk chocolate in 1875. 


In 1879, Rudolphe Lindt further refined the product when he discovered a method of airing chocolate in a so-called conche (conche means shell). This process removes bitter flavours without impairing desirable aspects of the taste –much similar to decanting wine. 


The invention of edible chocolate led to a huge rise in the demand for cocoa beans and cultivation spread to new regions including Africa. Today, Ghana and the Ivory Coast account for almost half of the beans produced for the global market.


From quantity to quality

A number of chocolate manufacturers were established in the second half of the 19th century that focused their efforts on creating top quality products instead of mass quantities. Among them were Anthon Berg in 1884 and Galle & Jessen in 1872.

However, the two world wars brought this new wave of chocolate manufacturing to a halt, with raw materials being in scarce supply up until the 1950s. Things began to pick up again from the 1960s onwards.

Whereas chocolate was once something to be enjoyed on special occasions, it had become an every day product.