A day for chocolates must be a sweet day. Well, the day is today, September 13, International Chocolate Day. The day is chosen to commemorate the birth anniversary of Milton S Hershey, the American chocolatier and founder of Hershey’s Chocolates.
The cacao plant, from which chocolate is made, is believed to have originated almost 5,300 years ago in the tropical Americas, at the archaeological site of Santa Ana-La Florida in present-day Ecuador. Evidence from later civilisations shows that cacao became deeply embedded in the cultures of the Olmec, Maya, Mixtec and Aztec peoples.
In earlier days, chocolate was first consumed as a drink rather than modern-day chocolate bars. The cacao beans were fermented, dried, roasted, and ground to produce drinks that produced a bitter-tasting liquid, which was then flavoured with chilli, vanilla, and other spices. Among the Mayan and Aztec civilisations, cacao had religious, social, and ceremonial importance. Historical evidence shows that the beans were even used as a mode of exchange in parts of Mesoamerica.
The word ‘chocolate’ is said to have debatable derivations, with some referring it entered through Spanish from the Nahuatl (an early central Mexico language) chocolātl, a term associated with the cacao beverage. One widely cited analysis connects it with chikolli, a beater or frothing implement, and ātl, meaning ‘water’ or ‘liquid.’
Chocolate entered European history following Spanish contact with the Americas in the 16th century. The Spanish encountered the indigenous cacao beverages and adapted them to European tastes by adding sugar, eventually making it a popular beverage, even among the elites of Europe.
Chocolate remained a luxury good for a long time till the Industrial Revolution, turning the commodity into a huge commercial industry.
In 1828, Dutch chemist Coenraad Johannes van Houten developed a process for treating cacao which allowed cocoa butter to be removed, producing handled cocoa powder. This became a game changer in the chocolate industry. In 1847, British company JS Fry & Sons developed a method of producing a mouldable solid chocolate by combining cocoa ingredients with additional cocoa butter and sugar. This is credited as the first-ever modern chocolate bar. Then followed by milk chocolate, dark chocolate, and all the varieties we see today.
Milton Hershey is seen as the sorcerer of confectionery as a business. He was born Milton Snavely Hershey on September 13, 1857, in Derry Township, Pennsylvania, US. He became successful producing caramels, establishing the Lancaster Caramel Company. In 1894, he founded Hershey Chocolate Company, bringing chocolate game into the industry. Hershey sought to make chocolate affordable for everyone, introducing the ‘milk chocolate’ variety in 1900, making it an industrially produced, relatively affordable mass-market product.
In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt, Swiss chocolatier and founder of the Lindt Group, developed the conching process, which made the product smoother. Hershey later introduced varieties of chocolate like Hershey’s Kisses in 1907 (hand-wrapped mini design), Mounds (coconut-filled) in 1920, Mr Goodbar (peanut-filled) in 1925, and many more. The day is not officially observed worldwide, but the US National Confectioners Association (NCA) lists it in memory of Hershey.
Unlike International Chocolate Day, the celebration of the introduction of chocolate to Europe in 1550 is observed separately as ‘World Chocolate Day’ on July 7. The observance started in 2009. Apart from these, national chocolate days are celebrated on other days in different countries.
(This story is compiled by Aaron Philip Keechireth.)