Almost twenty years after the invention of the press in 1847, the first British factory to produce a plain eating chocolate was established in Bristol in the UK by Joseph Fry. The chocolate made by Fry was initially a plain block and it was only in 1875 that the first milk chocolate was made by Daniel Peter in Switzerland.
Daniel Peter started to manufacture chocolate in 1867. Daniel wanted something new to differentiate his product from his competitors. He had the idea of including milk into his chocolate and after much experimentation with cooperation of his neighbor Henri Nestlé in 1875 he developed the first solid milk chocolate using condensed milk. The bar was named "Gala Peter", combining the Greek word for "milk" and his name.
A German company Jordan & Timaeus in Dresden, Saxony had already invented milk chocolate in 1839 hitherto it had only been available as a drink. The milk chocolate bar invented by Daniel Peters had a milder taste compared to Fry’s original chocolate bar and became a popular chocolate bar across Europe, with multiple chocolatiers manufacturing milk chocolate bars.
In 1828 in Netherlands, Coenraad van Houten leveraged his knowledge of hydraulic engineering and chemistry to pioneer the pressing and “Dutching” process to produce cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Cocoa powder and butter would later become two key ingredients in many confectioneries, including milk chocolate.
By 1868, a little company called Cadbury was marketing boxes of chocolate candies in England. Milk chocolate hit the market a few years later, pioneered by another name – Nestle.
History and the invention of milk chocolate
