From Bitter Cocoa to Chocolate Bar

The main ingredient for chocolate - cocoa - actually came to Europe from the Spanish colonies, in what we now call South America, during the 16th century. There it was consumed primarily as a beverage, to be enjoyed either hot or cold, and mixed with various spices and additions such as maize or honey.See Marcy Norton’s 2006 article "Tasting Empire: Chocolate and the European Internalization of Mesoamerican Aesthetics." in The American Historical Review 111 (3): p 670-672.(Fig. 3) will give you an idea of what “chocolate” might have looked like in its original form.

Once the cocoa had arrived on the shores of Spain through the Spanish conquistadores returning from South America, it was spread by merchants to other parts of Europe.See Kate Loveman’s 2013 article "The Introduction of Chocolate into England: Retailers, Researchers, and Consumers, 1640-1730." in the Journal of Social History 47, (1): p 29. The Netherlands played an important role in distributing cocoa: it was in large part Dutch merchants that were trading in cocoa and who distributed it through the ports in Amsterdam. From DutchCocoa.nl 2020 “The history of cocoa.” (Accessed 30th March 2021).

The drinking chocolate, which tended to be rather bitter, was promoted as a type of medicine. Because it was also relatively expensive, only the affluent and wealthy could afford it.See p 571 and 585 of Bertrand M. Gordon’s 2011 contribution “Commerce, Colonies and Cacao. Chocolate in England from Introduction to Industrialisation.” in Chocolate : History, Culture, and Heritage, 583-593. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.. (Fig. 4) It is hard to know exactly what this chocolate looked like in different countries, but Figure 5 is an example of the then famous British chocolate retailer Joseph Fry’s chocolate.

Even though Fry’s chocolate came in somewhat of a bar shape, this “chocolate” had little in common with today’s sweet treat. But this would soon change...