History and Timeline of Chocolate Bars

Everyone loves chocolate. People crave for chocolate and some even become addicted to it. Well, today is the day that I am craving for chocolate. Too bad I was not able to buy myself one due to time constraints. :(

I want to eat chocolate today, and I was not able to satisfy my craving. Sorry sweet tooth. :\ Due to this chocolate craving, I sat in front of the computer looking for chocolate desserts so I can stare at them, but I realized that I was not doing anything productive at all.

Until..  I came to a decision to write a new post on this blog. I was so desperate in eating chocolate today, and because of this, I was asking myself,  "How did the first candy bar come to life?" "Who started making candy bars?"
Thanks to the Candy Bar history article at ideafinder.com, all my questions were answered. Let me share what I have read:

The Candy Bar was invented by Joseph Fry in 1847. He was able to discover a way to mix in melted cacao butter and "Dutched" cocoa powder with sugar to create something that could be pressed into a mold.

Joseph Fry

His invention was successful that people considered eating the chocolate, instead of melting it again for them to drink. This is what most people consider as the very first chocolate bar for eating.


John Cadbury added a similar product to his range in 1849, and by today's standards these original chocolate bars would not be considered very palatable. The early eating bars of chocolate were made of bittersweet chocolate.

John Cadbury

Milk chocolate was introduced in 1875 when Henry Nestle, a maker of evaporated milk and Daniel Peter, a chocolate maker, got together and invented milk chocolate.

Henry Nestle

Daniel Peter

In 1879, Rodolphe Lindt thought to add cocoa butter back to the chocolate. Adding the additional cocoa butter helped the chocolate set up into a bar that "snaps" when broken as well as melting on the tongue.

Rodolphe Lindt

At the 1893 Columbian Exposition, a World's Fair held in Chicago, chocolate-making machinery made in Dresden, Germany, was displayed. It caught the eye of Milton S. Hershey, who had made his fortune in caramels, saw the potential for chocolate. He installed chocolate machinery in his factory in Lancaster, and produced his first chocolate bars in 1900.

Milton Hershey

Other Americans began mixing in other ingredients to make up new candy bars throughout the end of the 1890's and the early 1900's. But it was World War I that really brought attention to the candy bar. The U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps commissioned various American chocolate manufacturers to provide 20 to 40 pound blocks of chocolate to be shipped to quartermaster bases. The blocks were chopped up into smaller pieces and distributed to doughboys in Europe.

Eventually the task of making smaller pieces was turned back to the manufacturers. By the end of the war the returning doughboys had grown fond of chocolate candy and now as civilians wanted more of the same. As a result, from that time on and through the 1920s, candy bar manufacturers became established througout the United States, and as many as 40,000 different candy bars appeared on the scene. The Twenties became the decade that among other things, was the high point of the candy bar industry.


Timeline of Chocolate Bars:

 250 Mayan society's elite consume a chocolate drink made from Cacao beans
1375 Aztec society use cacao beans as currency and as a beverage
1529 a Chocolate drink is introduced into Spain from the Americas by conquistador Hernando Cortez
1729 Walter Churchman granted Letters Patent by George II for chocolate making
1847 Joseph Fry & Sons, creates a paste that could be pressed into a mold, resulting in bar candy

An old ad of Joseph Fry and Sons

1849 John Cadbury introduces a chocolate candy bar

An old ad of Cadbury

1875 Milk Chocolate invented by Henry Nestle and Daniel Peter

Daniel Peter's old Ad

1879 Rodolphe Lindt creates a bar that "snaps" when broken as well as melting on the tongue. 

An old Lindt Chocolate bar

1900 Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar was invented 

Hershey's old Ad

1916 Clark bar invented

1919 Joseph Fry & Sons of Bristol, merged with Cadbury Limited
1923 Reese's Peanut Butter Cups was invented 

Reese's old Ad

1923 Butterfinger was invented 

Butterfinger's old Wrapper

1923 Milky Way was invented

Milky Way's old Wrapper

1925 Kandy Kake (the original name of the Baby Ruth), 

Baby Ruth's old Ad

1925 Oh Henry! was invented

Oh Henry! 

1925 Mr. Goodbar was invented

Mr. Goodbar Old Wrapper

1930 Snickers Bar was invented

Vintage Snickers wrapper

1932 3 Musketeers Bar was invented 

3 Musketeers old Wrapper

1933 Kit Kat was invented 

Kit Kat bar wrapper

1938 Nestle's Crunch was invented 

Nestle Crunch Ad

Chocolate is really waaaay older than me. Hahaha. Even though it is already from way back, people still love it now. Is it because of the new flavors? or is it because the taste still remains the same after all those years? What do you think? Either way, I am still a chocolate lover and I'm proud of it. :)