Origins of the word Chocolate

The word "chocolate" entered the English language from Spanish. How the word came into Spanish is less certain, and there are multiple competing explanations. Perhaps the most cited explanation is that "chocolate" comes from Nahuatl, the language of the Aztecs, from the word chocolatl, which many sources derived from xocolatl from xococ sour or bitter, and atl 'water' or 'drink'. However, as the word "chocolatl" does not occur in central Mexican colonial sources, making this an unlikely derivation. There is another derivation from the Yucatec Maya word "chokol" meaning hot, and the Nahuatl "atl" meaning water. Pointing to various sources dating from the time period of the Spanish conquest, cacahuatl ("cacao water") was the original Nahuatl word for the cold beverage consumed by the Aztecs. Noting that using a word with caca in it to describe a thick, brown beverage would not have gone over well with most speakers of Spanish due to the fact that caca means faecesin Spanish, the Coes suggest that the Spanish colonisers combined the Nahuatl atl with the Yucatec Maya chocol, for unlike the Aztec, the Maya tended to drink chocolate heated.

The Spanish preferred the warm Mayan preparation of the beverage to the cold Aztec one, and so the colonisers substituted chocol in place of the culturally unacceptable caca. More recently, Dakin and Wichmann derive it from another Nahuatl term, "chicolatl" from eastern Nahuatl, meaning "beaten drink". They derive this term from the word for the frothing stick, "chicoli". However, the Coes write that xicalli referred to the gourd out of which the beverage was consumed and that the use of a frothing stick (known as a molinollo) was a product of creolisation between the Spanish and Aztec; the original frothing method used by the indigenous people was simply pouring the drink from a height into another vessel.

Early History

Mesoamerica

Chocolate has been used as a drink for nearly all of its history. The earliest record of using chocolate dates back before the Olmec. In November 2007, archaeologists reported finding evidence of the oldest known cultivation and use of cacao at a site in Puerto Escondido, Honduras, dating from about 1100 to 1400 BC. The residues found and the kind of vessel they were found in indicate the initial use of cacao was not simply as a beverage, but the white pulp around the cacao beans was likely used as a source of fermentable sugars for an alcoholic drink. The Maya civilization grew cacao trees in their backyards and used the cacao seeds it produced to make a frothy, bitter drink.Documents in Maya hieroglyphs stated chocolate was used for ceremonial purposes, in addition to everyday life.The chocolate residue found in an early ancient Maya pot in Río Azul, Guatemala, suggests the Maya were drinking chocolate around 400 AD.
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The sweet chocolate residue found in jars from the site of Puerto Escondido in Honduras from around 1100 BC is the earliest found evidence of the use of cacao to date. An early Classic (460-480 AD) period Mayan tomb from the site of Rio Azul, Guatemala, had vessels with the Maya glyph for cacao on them with residue of a chocolate drink. The Maya are generally given credit for creating the first modern chocolate beverage over 2,000 years ago, despite the fact that the beverage would undergo many more changes in Europe.
By the 15th century, the Aztecs gained control of a large part of Mesoamerica, and adopted cacao into their culture. They associated chocolate with Xochiquetzal, the goddess of fertility,and often used chocolate beverages as sacred offerings.

The Aztec adaptation of the drink was a bitter, frothy, spicy drink called xocolatl, made much the same way as the Mayan chocolate drinks. It was often seasoned withvanilla, chile pepper, and achiote, and was believed to fight fatigue, which is probably attributable to the theobromine content, a mood enhancer. Because cacao would not grow in the dry central Mexican highlands and had to be imported, chocolate was an important luxury good throughout the Aztec empire, and cocoa beans were often used as currency.For example, the Aztecs used a system in which one turkey cost one hundred cacao beans and one fresh avocado was worth three beans.South American and European cultures have used cocoa to treat diarrhea for hundreds of years. All of the areas ruled by the Aztecs were ordered to pay a tax, leading those that grew the beans to offer cacao seeds as tribute.

The Rise of Chocolate in Europe

The first European contact with chocolate came when Montezuma (then tlatoani of Tenochtitlan) introduced Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador, toxocolatl in the 16th century.Antonio de Solís, Philip IV's official Chronicler of the Indies, described Montezuma customarily taking a chocolate beverage after meals, as part of a sumptuous daily ritual:
''He had Cups of Gold, and Salvers of the same; and sometimes he drank out of Cocoas [i.e., coconut shells], and natural Shells, very richly set with Jewels.[...] When he had done eating, he usually took a Kind of Chocolate, made after the Manner of the Country, that is, the Substance of the Nut beat up with the Mill till the Cup was filled more with Froth than with Liquor; after which he used to smoak Tobacco perfum'd with liquid Amber.'

Jose de Acosta, a Spanish Jesuit missionary who lived in Peru and then Mexico in the later 16th century, wrote of it:
'Loathsome to such as are not acquainted with it, having a scum or froth that is very unpleasant taste. Yet it is a drink very much esteemed among the Indians, where with they feast noble men who pass through their country. The Spaniards, both men and women that are accustomed to the country are very greedy of this Chocolate. They say they make diverse sorts of it, some hot, some cold, and some temperate, and put therein much of that "chili"; yea, they make paste thereof, the which they say is good for the stomach and against the catarrh.'

The first recorded shipment of chocolate to Europe for commercial purposes was in a shipment from Veracruz to Sevilla in 1585.It was still served as a beverage, but the Europeans added cane sugar to counteract the natural bitterness and removed the chili pepper while retaining the vanilla, in addition they added cinnamon as well as other spices. What the Spaniards then called "chocolatl" was said to be a beverage consisting of a chocolate base flavored with vanilla and other spices that was served cold. Montezuma's court reportedly drank about 2,000 cups of xocolatl per day, 50 of which were consumed by Montezuma himself.

Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central and South American peoples.It was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that chocolate could be imported to Europe. In Spain, it quickly became a court favorite. In a century it had spread and become popular throughout the European continent. To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao. Even with cacao harvesting becoming a regular business, only royalty and the well-connected could afford to drink this expensive import. Before long, the Spanish began growing cacao beans on plantations, and using an African workforce to help manage them. The situation was different in England. Put simply, anyone with money could buy it. The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657.In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold to the Cadbury brothers in 1897.

The Rise of the Chocolate Industry

For hundreds of years, the chocolate-making process remained unchanged. When the Industrial Revolution arrived, many changes occurred that brought about the food today in its modern form. A Dutch family's (van Houten) inventions made mass production of shiny, tasty chocolate bars and related products possible. In the 18th century, mechanical mills were created that squeezed out cocoa butter, which in turn helped to create hard, durable chocolate. But, it was not until the arrival of the Industrial Revolution that these mills were put to bigger use. Not long after the revolution cooled down, companies began advertising this new invention to sell many of the chocolate treats we see today. When new machines were produced, people began experiencing and consuming chocolate worldwide.
At the end of the 18th century, the first form of solid chocolate was invented in Turin by Doret. This chocolate was sold in large quantities from 1826 by Pierre Paul Caffarel.

In 1819, F. L. Cailler opened the first Swiss chocolate factory. In 1828, Dutchman Coenraad Johannes van Houten patented a method for extracting the fat from cocoa beans and making powdered cocoa and cocoa butter. Van Houten also developed the "so-called" Dutch process of treating chocolate with alkali to remove the bitter taste. This made it possible to form the modern chocolate bar. The German company Jordan & Timaeus sold the first known chocolate bar made from cocoa, sugar and goat's milk in 1839.  In England, the company, J. S. Fry & Sons discovered a way to mix some of the cocoa butter back into the Dutched chocolate, and added sugar, creating a paste that could be moulded. This led to the first British chocolate bar in 1847, followed in 1849 by the Cadbury brothers.
In 1865, an unknown employee at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company discovered the Broma process of separating cocoa butter from cocoa solids (namely, that if chocolate is hung in a bag in a warm room, the butter will drip out naturally over time).

Daniel Peter, a Swiss candle maker, joined his father-in-law's chocolate business. In 1867, he began experimenting with milk as an ingredient. He brought his new product, milk chocolate, to market in 1875. He was assisted in removing the water content from the milk to prevent mildewing by a neighbour, a baby food manufacturer named Henri Nestlé. Rodolphe Lindt invented the process called conching, which involves heating and grinding the chocolate solids very finely to ensure that the liquid is evenly blended. This enabled Milton Hershey to make chocolate even more popular by mass producing affordable chocolate bars.

Case Study A - Terry's of York

Another famous chocolate producer was Terry's of York. Terry's was a chocolate and confectionery maker in York, England. Its history stretched back to 1767. In 1767 as Robert Berry opened a shop close to Bootham Bar, York, selling cough lozenges, lemon and orange candied peel and other sweets. Joined by William Bayldon, the partners renamed the business Bayldon and Berry confectionery. Born in Pocklington, Joseph Terry came to York to serve as an apprentice apothecary in Stonegate. On gaining his certificates, he set up as a chemist in Walmgate. But after marrying Harriet Atkinson in 1823, he met her elderly uncle Robert Berry. After William Bayldon left the business Terry agreed to become a partner in the confectionery business, and after closing his chemists shop joined the confectionery business in St Helen's Square, York.

In 1825 after the death of Robert Berry, Terry agreed a new partnership with Robert's son George, renaming the business Terry & Berry. In 1828, George left the business and it was renamed Terry's of York.Using his skills as a chemist, Joseph developed new lines of chocolate, confectionery, sugared sweets, candied peel, marmalade and medicated lozenges. He began using the developing railway network of theNorth Eastern Railway, to distribute his products over the North of England and as far away as London. Joseph retired in 1850 shortly before his death, handing over the business to his sons Joseph Jnr, Robert and John. Joseph became the driving force, quickly expanded the business, moving production four years later to a leased site at Clementhorpe, beside the River Ouse. The allowed easy shipment of raw product into the new production facility from the Humber estuary, with a steam ship twice a week bringing in ingredients including sugar and cocoa, as well as coal to power the new steam-powered machinery at the renamed Joseph Terry & Sons. The company retained the St Helen's Square premises as a shop and restaurant, and the Terry name is still on the front of the building today.

In 1923, Frank and Noel Terry joined the family business. They revamped the company, launching new products and bought a site off of Bishopthorpe Road, York on which to develop a new factory known as Terry's Confectionery Works. Built in an Art Deco style, the factory included a distinct clock tower.Op ened in 1926, new products including the Chocolate Apple (1926), Terry's Chocolate Orange (1931), and Terry's All Gold were all developed and produced onsite. With the onset of World War II, confectionery production was immediately halted. The factory was taken over by F Hill's and Son's of Manchester as a shadow factory, to manufacture and repair aircraft propeller blades. With the factory handed back to the company post-war, production was difficult due to rationing and limited imports of raw coca. As a result, in 1954 production of the chocolate apple was phased out in favour of increased production of the chocolate orange. In 1975, Terry's was acquired by United Biscuits, forming the bulk of their confectionery division.

After UB ran into financial difficulties in the early 1990s, they sold their entire confectionery division to Kraft Foods, who amalgamated it with Jacobs Suchard to create Terry's Suchard. From 2000, the company brand was changed from Terry's of York to simply Terry's, reducing the company's links to the city. Production was also scaled back, with just UK products and Terry's Chocolate Orange, Terry's All Gold and Twilight made for the international market. In 2012, Kraft split into 2 companies: one called the Kraft Foods Group and the other as Mondelez International. As part of the split, Terry's became part of Mondelez. In 2004, Kraft Foods decided to absorb Terry's, switch production of remaining products All Gold and Chocolate Orange to their own factories in Belgium, Sweden,Poland and Slovakia, and close the plant. The factory closed on 30 September 2005.

Case Study B Milton Hershey

Milton Snavely Hershey (September 13, 1857 – October 13, 1945) was an American confectioner, philanthropist, and founder of The Hershey Chocolate Company and the "company town" of Hershey, Pennsylvania. Milton Hershey was born on September 13, 1857, to Veronica "Fanny" Snavely and Henry Hershey. His family were members of Pennsylvania's Mennonite community. His ancestors were Swiss and German and had settled in Pennsylvania in the early 1700s. He grew up speaking the "Pennsylvania Dutch" language. Being a youngster in rural Pennsylvania, there was work to be done. Like many rural young people of the time, Milton was expected to help out on the family farm, and he learned early on of the value of hard work and perseverance. Henry Hershey rarely stayed anywhere very long, and was prone to leaving his wife and child for long periods. Because of this, Hershey had a very limited education with no schooling after 4th grade. When he was in his late teens and 20s, Milton would travel with his father on his sales trips. After one lengthy visit to Chicago, Milton grew tired of Chicago and returned to Pennsylvania.

Returning to Lancaster in 1887, Hershey established the Lancaster Caramel Company, which quickly became an outstanding success. Utilizing a caramel recipe he had obtained during his previous travels, his company soared to the top. It was this business that established him as a candy maker, and set the stage for future accomplishments. Hershey became fascinated with the confectioner machinery to make German chocolate exhibited at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, in Chicago, by J. M. Lehmann Co. of Dresden, Germany and bought the equipment for his company.

With the proceeds from the 1900 sale of the Lancaster Caramel Company, Hershey initially acquired farm land about 30 miles northwest of Lancaster, near his birthplace of Derry Church. There, he could obtain the large supplies of fresh milk needed to perfect and produce fine milk chocolate. Excited by the potential of milk chocolate, which at that time was a luxury product, Hershey was determined to develop a formula for milk chocolate and market and sell it to the American public. Through trial and error, he created his own formula for milk chocolate. The first Hershey's Bar was enjoyed in 1900. Hershey's Kisses were developed in 1907, and the Hershey's Bar with almonds was introduced in 1908. On March 2, 1903, he began construction on what was to become the world's largest chocolate manufacturing company. The facility, completed in 1905, was designed to manufacture chocolate using the latest mass production techniques. Hershey's milk chocolate quickly became the first nationally marketed product of its kind.

The factory was in the center of a dairy farmland, but with Hershey's support, houses, businesses, churches, and a transportation infrastructure accreted around the plant. Because the land was surrounded by dairy farms, he was able to use fresh milk to mass-produce quality milk chocolate. Hershey continued to experiment and perfect the process of making milk chocolate using the techniques he had first learned for adding milk to make caramels when he had moved to Colorado.

On May 25, 1898, Hershey married Catherine "Kitty" Sweeney. Since the couple could not have children, they decided to help others, establishing the Hershey Industrial School with a Deed of Trust in 1909.Catherine died prematurely in 1915 and Hershey never remarried. In 1918, Hershey transferred the majority of his assets, including control of the company, to the Milton Hershey School Trust fund, to benefit the Industrial School. The trust fund has a majority of voting shares in The Hershey Company, allowing it to keep control of the company. In 1951, the school was renamed the Milton Hershey School. The Milton Hershey School Trust also has 100% control of Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company, which owns the Hotel Hershey and HersheyPark, among other properties. He took great pride in the growth of the school, the town, and his business. He placed the quality of his product and the well-being of his workers ahead of profits.In 1935, Hershey established the M.S. Hershey Foundation, a private charitable foundation that provides educational and cultural opportunities for Hershey residents. The foundation supplies funding for three entities: the Hershey Museum and Hershey Gardens, the Hershey Theatre and the Hershey Community Archives. The founding of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center also occurred. It was a gift from the Milton Hershey School Trust to the people of Pennsylvania, with an initial endowment of $50 million and only one restriction—the hospital had to be built in Hershey. The hospital is a teaching hospital with an annual budget exceeding the initial construction cost

World War II

Hershey Chocolate supplied the U.S. armed forces with chocolate bars during World War II. These bars were called Ration D Bars and Tropical Chocolate Bars. The Ration D Bar had very specific requirements from the army: It had to weigh 1 or 2 ounces (28 or 57 g); it had to resist melting at higher temperatures than 90 degrees, and it had to have an unpleasant-enough flavor to prevent the troops from developing cravings for them. After a year or two, the Army was impressed enough with the durability and success of the Ration D Bar to commission Milton to make the Tropical Chocolate Bar. The only difference between them was that the Tropical Chocolate Bar was made to taste better than the Ration D Bar did and still be as durable as the Ration D Bar was. Tropical Chocolate Bars were designed not to melt in the tropical weather. It is estimated that between 1940 and 1945, over 3 billion of the Ration D Bars and Tropical Chocolate Bars were produced and distributed to soldiers throughout the world. In 1939, the Hershey plant was capable of producing 100,000 ration bars a day. By the end of World War II, the entire Hershey plant was producing ration bars at a rate of 24 million a week. For their service throughout World War II, the Hershey Chocolate Company was issued five Army-Navy 'E' Production Awards for exceeding expectations for quality and quantity in the production of the Ration D Bar and Tropical Chocolate Bar. Milton S. Hershey died at the age of 88 on October 13, 1945, in Hershey Hospital, a year after he had retired from the board.

The Modern Industry

Many chocolate manufacturers have created products from chocolate bars to fudge, hoping to attract more consumers with each creation. Hershey and Mars have become the largest manufacturers in the world..Other large manufacturers include Nestlé, Kraft Foods and Lindt. The Hershey Company, known for their Hershey bar, Hershey's Kisses and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, is the largest chocolate manufacturer in North America. Mars, Incorporated, one of the largest privately owned U.S. corporations, is a worldwide manufacturer of confectionery and other food products, with US$21 billion in annual sales in 2006. Mars is known for Mars Bar, Milky Way, M&M's, Twix and Snickers, as well as other confectionery items, such as Skittles. Food conglomerates Nestlé SA and Kraft Foods both have chocolate brands. Nestlé acquired Rowntree's in 1988 and now market chocolates under their own brand, including Smarties and Kit Kat; Kraft Foods through its 1990 acquisition of Jacobs Suchard, now own Milka and Suchard. In February 2010, Kraft also acquired British-based Cadbury plc, the world's largest confectionery manufacturer.Cadbury is well known for its Dairy Milk range and Creme Egg; Fry's, Trebor Basset, the fair-trade brand Green & Black's also belong to the group.

The chocolate industry, a steadily growing, $50 billion-a-year worldwide business centered on the sale and consumption of chocolate, is prevalent on five out of seven continents. Big Chocolate, as it is also called, is essentially an oligopoly between major international chocolate companies in Europe and the U.S. These U.S. companies, such as Mars and Hershey's alone, generate $13 billion a year in chocolate sales and account for two-thirds of U.S. manufacturers. However, Europe accounts for 45% of the world's chocolate revenue.

Simon Harding
Founder
Chronos Group
www.chronosconsulting.com