What is the first name to chocolate?

Chocolates are still faring well even as society steers away from other sweet bites like sweets, toffees and jelly beans with their high content of sugar.

Chances are you will be having more chocolates around this time of the year as they make for excellent gifts which would come your way one way or another.

Which name comes first to you when you think of chocolate? Some giveaway names would be Cadbury, Delfi, Ferrero Rocher, Fry's, Ghirardelli, Godiva, Guylian, Hershey's, KitKat, Kandos, Lindt & Sprüngli, M&M, Mars and Toblerone.

Let's turn to Wikipedia and be reminded of Van Houten:-

"In 1828 Casparus van Houten Sr. (and not his son, who is usually credited) patented an inexpensive method for pressing the fat from roasted cocoa beans. The center of the bean, known as the "nib", contains an average of 54 percent cocoa butter, which is a natural fat. Van Houten's machine – a hydraulic press – reduced the cocoa butter content by nearly half. This created a "cake" that could be pulverized into cocoa powder, which was to become the basis of all chocolate products.

The introduction of cocoa powder not only made creating chocolate drinks much easier, but also made it possible to combine the powder with sugar and then remix it with cocoa butter to create a solid, already closely resembling today's eating chocolate.

In 1838 the patent expired, enabling others to produce cocoa powder and build on Van Houten's success, experimenting to make new chocolate products. In 1847 English chocolate maker J. S. Fry & Sons produced arguably the first chocolate bar. Later developments were in Switzerland, where Daniel Peter introduced milk chocolate in 1875 and Rodolphe Lindt made chocolate more blendable by the process of conching in 1879.

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Coenraad Van Houten introduced a further improvement by treating the powder with alkaline salts (potassium or sodium carbonates) so that the powder would mix more easily with water. Today, this process is known as "Dutching". The final product, Dutch chocolate, has a dark color and a mild taste."

This is a shout-out to the Van Houtens father and son team for creating the underlying process for making chocolates and bringing forth this popular delectable product. 

As you enjoy Van Houten's chocolate in this modern times, you will appreciate the rich history and significance behind its name.

Back to the question, Daily Refreshing is of the view that Van Houten would be the fitting first name to chocolate.

Thank you for reading and sharing Daily Refreshing.