Early history holding sticks of ground cocoa paste Solid chocolate was probably already consumed in
pre-Columbian America, in particular by the
Aztecs, despite the beverage being the traditional form of consumption of cocoa in
Mesoamerica. In fact, any
finely ground cocoa that is not immediately used to make a drink turns into solid chocolate. The grinding of the cocoa beans was done with a stone
metate. Dominican friar
Diego Durán mentions in his writings that Aztec soldiers carried small balls of ground cocoa among other military rations. Cocoa was introduced into Europe in the early 16th century, possibly already under its processed (solid) form. Until the 18th century, chocolate was essentially consumed as a drink. Transport of cocoa beans was slow and difficult, therefore making the product very expensive in Europe. Chocolate was usually sold as a solidified ground but still grainy cocoa paste (in the form of blocks, sticks or balls) to be dissolved in water or milk, either plain or already sweetened and flavoured. It is unclear when bars or tablets of chocolate (meant to be eaten straight as a candy rather than grated into a drink) were made for the first time. The production of chocolate specifically meant to be eaten in bars may predate the
French Revolution. The
Marquis de Sade wrote to his wife in a letter dated May 16, 1779, complaining about the quality of a care package he had received while in prison. Among the requests that he made for future deliveries were for cookies that "must smell of chocolate, as if one were biting into a chocolate bar." This phrasing is highly suggestive of chocolate bars being eaten by themselves and not just grated into chocolate-based drinks. Another illustration is given by a contemporary encyclopedia, which mentions "bonbons", "chocolate-covered pistachios" and "white chocolate". Such products would predate the invention of the cocoa press and the "
Dutch cocoa" by
Coenraad Johannes van Houten and other innovations which made chocolate suitable for mass-production. Up to and including the 19th century,
confectionery of all sorts was typically sold in small pieces to be bagged and bought by weight. The introduction of chocolate as something that could be eaten as is, rather than used to make beverages or desserts, resulted in the earliest bar forms, or tablets. At some point,
chocolates came to mean any chocolate-covered sweets, whether nuts, creams (fondant),
caramel candies, or others. The chocolate bar evolved from all of these in the late-19th century as a way of
packaging and selling candy more conveniently for both buyer and seller; however, the buyer had to pay for the packaging. It was considerably cheaper to buy candy loose, or in bulk.
First mass-produced chocolate bars The late 18th century saw the beginning of the mechanization of chocolate manufacturing. Water and wind power was used first, steam-powered machines followed. This not only allowed the production of chocolate on a larger scale, but also the production of chocolate with a finer texture. Among the pioneers were
Joseph Storrs Fry, who patented a method of grinding cocoa beans using a Watt steam engine in 1795, and Poincelet, who invented the
melanger in 1811, soon adopted by most chocolate manufacturers. In the early 19th century, several chocolate manufacturers are credited for technical improvements or novelties.
François-Louis Cailler, who founded the
Cailler factory in 1819 in Switzerland, sold assortments of chocolate tablets. Shortly after, in 1826, another Swiss chocolatier,
Philippe Suchard, founded the
Suchard factory where he used and developed the melanger. During that decade, in England,
Fry & Sons introduced chocolate lozenges as a "substitute for food when travelling". 1828 is the year of a major breakthrough: Casparus van Houten patented an effective method for pressing the fat from roasted cocoa beans. The centre of the bean, known as the "nib", contains an average of 54 percent
cocoa butter. Van Houten's machine – the hydraulic
cocoa press – reduced the cocoa butter content by nearly half. This not only allowed the creation of defatted cocoa powder (to be used for chocolate drinks), but also the creation of pure cocoa butter on a large scale. The additional cocoa butter (mixed with
cocoa liquor and sugar) would allow the production of chocolate with a higher fluidity, therefore with a higher moldability into more complex shapes. It is not known when the first chocolate with added cocoa butter was manufactured. However, in 1832, the first workshop for producing chocolate moulds opened in Paris, testifying to the increasing use of chocolate in confectionery, especially in France. An American magazine from 1836 notes that (small and sweetened) chocolate bars have become popular in France for their nutritious quality and portability. In the 1830s, French pharmacist
Antoine Brutus Menier, who first used chocolate as a coating for pills, developed
a chocolate factory in
Noisiel. In 1836, a yellow-wrapped chocolate tablet with six semi-cylindrical divisions is launched, possibly already using additional cocoa butter. By the 1840s the production of a wide variety of chocolate bars and bonbons is attested. Semi-finished products like finely ground cocoa liquor and cocoa butter were also sold by Menier. Menier's tablets bore a trademark to protect them from counterfeits. By the 1860s, production reached 2,500 tonnes, a quarter of the country’s total output, much of it exported. In the 1840s, British manufacturers adopted eating chocolate to counter the popularity of French imports. In 1842,
John Cadbury sold "French Eating Chocolate". He was followed by
Joseph Fry who sold
Chocolat Délicieux à Manger ("delicious eating chocolate") in 1847. The latter, probably made with additional cocoa butter, although it was not successful. Meanwhile, the
Walter Baker company introduced sweetened chocolate bars during the
California gold rush, popularising chocolate as an everyday food in the United States. Fry's chocolate factory in
Bristol,
J. S. Fry & Sons, began the mass-production of various chocolate candies, notably Fry's Cream Sticks released in 1853, The production of eating chocolate rose from about 10 tonnes in 1852 to over 1,100 tonnes in 1880; a Van Houten press was acquired and installed in 1868, two years after its competitor,
Cadbury, installed his. Other products included the first chocolate
Easter egg in the UK in 1873, and
Fry's Turkish Delight (or Fry's Turkish bar) in 1914.
Modern chocolate bars Rodolphe Lindt, a Swiss confectioner, discovered the
conching process in 1879. Conching evenly blends cocoa butter with cocoa solids and sugar, therefore making the chocolate perfectly smooth. At first a trade secret, it became a standard process in the chocolate industry by the 1920s. The last stage of chocolate manufacturing,
tempering, was also developed at around this time. Tempering allows the production of chocolate that is perfectly hard at room temperature and that has an attractive shiny appearance. A few years earlier, in 1875,
milk chocolate makes its appearance. It was developed by another Swiss confectioner,
Daniel Peter. He was able to make milk chocolate with the help of his neighbour
Henri Nestlé, who was specialized in dehydrated milk products. Daniel Peter launched his successful
Gala Peter brand in 1887. Cailler and Suchard followed in the late 19th century, and other factories opened in Switzerland at that time. In 1897, following the lead of Swiss companies, Cadbury introduced its own line of milk chocolate bars in the UK.
Cadbury Dairy Milk, first produced in 1905, became the company's best selling bar. In the United States, immigrants who arrived with candy-making skills drove the development of new chocolate bars.
Milton S. Hershey, a Pennsylvania caramel maker, saw a German-manufactured chocolate-making machine at the
1893 Chicago World's Fair. He immediately ordered one for his
Lancaster factory and produced the first American-made milk chocolate bar. During
World War I, the
U.S. Army commissioned a number of American chocolate makers to produce 40 pound blocks of chocolate. These were shipped to Army
quartermaster bases and distributed to the troops stationed throughout Europe. When the soldiers returned home, their demand for chocolate contributed to the increasing popularity of the chocolate bar.
Combination bars , cut in half The first chocolate bars were plain chocolate, but often flavoured with spices, such as
cinnamon and
vanilla. and, in 1852,
Caffarel added hazelnuts as a smooth paste to its chocolate, creating
gianduja. Adding other, usually cheaper, ingredients to bars was also a way to reduce production costs. Additionally, the overwhelming majority of combination bars use milk chocolate, which further decreases the amount of cocoa in the finished product. Approximately 30,000 varieties of candy bars existed in the United States during the 1920s, most of which were produced locally. A wide selection of similar chocolate snacks or nutritional supplements are produced with added sources of
protein and
vitamins, including
energy bars,
protein bars and
granola bars. • The
Fry's Chocolate Cream, produced by
J. S. Fry & Sons since 1866, consisted of a plain fondant centre enrobed in plain chocolate. It is the first mass-produced chocolate bar and predates the invention of milk chocolate. • The
Branche, created by Kohler and produced by Cailler since 1904, is a cylindrical and branch-looking milk chocolate and hazelnut bar with a
praline filling, partly made with recycled broken confectionery. As a consequence of its wide success, "branche" has become a generic term (in French) for any stick-like chocolate bar. • The
Toblerone, produced by Tobler since 1908, is a combination of milk chocolate and
torrone, a white nougat made of honey, almonds and egg whites. Its manufacture and distinctive triangular shape was patented at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property. • The
Goo Goo Cluster, produced by the Standard Candy Company of
Nashville, Tennessee, in 1912, was the first combination bar in the United States. It was made of caramel, marshmallow, and peanuts, covered with milk chocolate. The combination of peanuts with chocolate became very popular in North America, while the hazelnut remained the most popular pairing in Europe. • The
Clark Bar, a crispy core with caramel and peanut butter covered with milk chocolate, was the first nationally marketed combination bar in the United States. Schnering decided to sell his bar for half the price of its competitor, hiring legendary Chicago ad man, Eddy S. Brandt, to market the Baby Ruth under the slogan "Everything you want for a nickel." The catchy slogan, along with other innovative marketing tactics, like sponsoring circuses and dropping Baby Ruth bars over cities from airplanes, made Baby Ruth the most popular candy bar in the U.S by 1925. • The
Mars bar was introduced by
Mars, Incorporated in 1932 in
Slough, England, by
Forrest Mars, Sr. It consists of caramel and nougat coated with milk chocolate. • The
Kit Kat bar, created by
Rowntree's in 1935, is a milk chocolate-covered
wafer bar. The bar consists of two or four fingers that can be snapped from the bar separately. Kit Kat bars are reputed for being made in many different flavours. •
Dubai chocolate, created in 2021 in the United Arab Emirates, is a milk chocolate bar filled with a
pistachio-
tahini cream and
kadayif. The recipe went viral on social networks. ==Ingredients==