History of Chocolate - Page 3
Several things happened in the 19th century that made chocolate more palatable and helped shape the chocolate we know and love today. In 1815, a Dutch chemist named Coenraad Van Houtan started adding alkaline salts to powdered chocolate (interestingly enough, it was also Van Houtan who perfected the machines that make powdered chocolate). The salts not only take some of the sharpness off the taste of chocolate, but also let it mix more readily with water and milk. Another very important step in the history of chocolate came some time later when in 1875 two men named Daniel Peter and Henri Nestle mixed condensed milk and chocolate to create milk chocolate.
The history of chocolate is tainted. The massacre that Spaniards perpetrated on the Aztecs is well known. The problems didn’t end with the exportation of chocolate to the Old World. In order to make enough chocolate to meet the demands of the European aristocracy, lots of sugar was needed in addition to the cocoa plants. Both of these plants require lots of time and attention to grow. As a result of this slave labor was common in the production of chocolate.
However, the history of chocolate is not without its saving graces. In 1910, for example, William Cadbury, the famous English chocolatier and several other major chocolate manufacturers joined forces and refused to buy cocoa from the offending plantations until working and living conditions improved. In the same year, the US Congress passed a ban on importing chocolate from any plantation found to be practicing slavery or forcing their laborers into slave-like conditions. Despite these efforts, even to this day, some groups contend that many people who cultivate the cocoa plant, primarily grown in Africa these days, are essentially slaves to the land owners.
