Chocolate - the names that helped forge the tastes

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We all have seen the brands but what do we know of the people behind the names ? Did you know for example that Rowntrees and Cadburys were founded by Quakers ? Some of the unusual backgrounds to several of the chocolatiers are shown in the following list -

Baker 

Now owned by conglomerate Kraft Heinz, the company was founded in 1765 by John Hannon, an Irish Chocolatier. It was taken over by his partner Dr James Baker after Hannon never returned from sailing in the Carribean Sea where he had been destined for the West Indies searching for new supplies of cocoa beans.

 

Billy Blue

An English chocolatier, Billy Blue had a colourful and eventful life being variously soldier, chocolatier, convict, boatmaster to name a few occupations. Sentenced to 7 years transportation in Australia for stealing sugar for his chocolate factory, Billy Blue made his fortune in Sydney, NSW Australia but never returned to chocolate making.

John Cadbury

John Cadbury from Birmingham, United Kingdom, started with a tea and coffee shop selling cocoa as a side line. The taste for cocoa however overtook selling tea and coffee thus with his brother, Benjamin, Cadbury Brothers was established in 1824. A Quaker, Cadbury had a strong social conscience, a characteristic shared with other chocolatiers such as Hershey in the United States, Meiner in France and Suchard in Switzerland. 

Hershey

Milton Hershey another Quaker mixed being a chocolatier with being a social reformer. His rich dark Hershey bars dominated American tastes for decades and remain a favourite today. Hershey built a model town for his employees called Hersheyville and notably none of his employees lost their jobs during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Notably he commented ' caramels are a fad, chocolate is permanent'.

 

Lindt

Lindt was an eccentric aristocrat who developed the conching process for chocolate however the Lindt process was purchased by David Sprungli-Schwarz who opened his own chocolate factory in 1899. The Sprungli family have run the business ever since retaining the Lindt name.

  

Mars

Mars is very much a family affair with Forrest Mars following his father's footsteps and travelling to Slough, England to start his chocolate business. His father, Frank C Mars was a Chicago based confectioner who created the Milky Way so Forrest Mars using this recipe created the almost ubiquitous 'Mars Bar' in 1932.

 

Nestle

Milk chocolate originates from completely different purpose. In 1867, Henri Nestle, a chemist, was originally engaged in research for a milk substitute for babies allergic to their mother's milk. The result was sweet condensed milk which garnered the attention of Swiss chocolatier, Daniel Peter. Together with Nestle they developed the first milk chocolate with their respective companies merging in 1879. Nestle is now a global chocolate with a recipe that is adjusted from country to country to suit different tastes.

  

Terry's of York

In 1767 Joseph Terry started producing sugar confectionery during the reign of George III but at this time chocolate tended to be a beverage for drinking rather than eating. When the change came, Terry's pioneered the boxed chocolate assortment. 

Bon appetite !