The History of Chocolate

1819	Francois-Louis Cailler returns from Italy where he studied chocolate-making. He established the first Swiss chocolate factory in Corsier.
1822	John Cadbury, a Quaker who tried to convince people that drinking chocolate was much healthier than alcohol, opens a tea and coffee shop in Birmingham, England.
1828	Coenraad Van Houten, a Dutch chocolate maker, invents a hydraulic press that is used to make cacao powder.
1832	Francois-Louis Cailler opens a large plant in Corsier, Switzerland.
1840	Cailler opens a second chocolate factory in Vevey, Switzerland. Twenty years later this factory is sold to Julien and Daniel Peter who invent milk chocolate.
1847	The first manufacturer of chocolate in England creates the first chocolate bars. Their shop is called J. S. Fry & Sons. Not many people liked this because of its bitter taste.
1860	John Cadbury joins with his brother Benjamin to form the Cadbury Brothers of Birmingham. A year later the business goes to John's sons, Richard and George.
1861	Richard Cadbury creates the heart-shaped candy box for Valentine's Day.
1862	The Baker's Chocolate Company obtains the rights to use the painting La Belle Chocolatiere, by the Swiss artist Jean-étienne Liotard. The painting shows the wife of Prince Dietrichstein as a maid serving chocolate. This was how she was dressed when the prince first mets her. Baker's Chocolate Company will use this same painting as their company trademark. This is one of the oldest product trademarks in the United States.
1864	Jean Tobler begins production of handmade confections in Bern, Switzerland.
1872	Baker's Chocolate Company begins to use the chocolate girl painting as the company trademark.
1875	Daniel Peter figures out how to combine milk and cocoa power to create milk chocolate.
1879	Rodolphe Lindt invents the conch. This is a machine that stirs liquid chocolate to break down any remaining clumps. This machines makes the chocolate smooth for the first time. Lindt calls this chocolate fondant and labels his candy bars Lindt Surfin.
1890	Henri Nestlé dies in Montreux, Switzerland. He was the founder of the Nestlé Company.
1893	Milton Hershey goes to the World's Colombian Exposition in Chicago. He watches a demonstration of German-made chocolate equipment. He likes the this so much that he buys it immediately. He ships the equipment to his Carmel factory in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1894	Milton Hershey creates his first candy bar. He also makes baking chocolate, cocoa, and chocolate coatings for caramels.
1894	Otto J. Scholenleber starts the Ambrosia Chocolate Company in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Later he switches to making bulk chocolate for large companies such as Hostess, Pillsbury, and Nabisco.
1896	Leo Hirschfield makes the first Tootsie Roll. He names it after his daughter.
1897	People in England ate a record 36 million pounds of chocolate. Europeans ate 100 millions pounds and the people from the United States ate 26 million pounds of chocolate.
1899	Rodolphe Lindt sold his secret formula for making fondant chocolate to David Sprüngli for 1.5 million Swiss francs. He forms a new partnership and the company becomes Lindt & Sprüngli.
1899	Jean Tobler begins a chocolate company in Bern.