June 7 is World Chocolate Day, celebrating the day chocolate was introduced to Europe in 1550. Findings from Hayes Lavis, a curator with the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, indicate that the Olmec people of Mesoamerica may have used fermented, roasted, and ground cacao beans to create a bitter ceremonial drink back in 1500 B.C. Historians are quick to point out the true origin of chocolate is debated, however, due to the lack of written ancient documentation.
Fast forwarding to the late 1930s in America, Ruth Graves Wakefield is credited for inventing the chocolate chip cookie. As a dietician and food lecturer, Wakefield enjoyed experimenting in the kitchen of the Toll House Inn that she operated with her husband in Whitman, Massachusetts. Records indicate Wakefield was perfecting a butterscotch nut cookie and decided to add chocolate to the dough. When she realized she didn’t have any standard baking chocolate, she used an ice pick to chop up pieces of a semi-sweet chocolate bar Andrew Nestle gave her. Diners at the inn enjoyed the Toll House chocolate crunch cookie so much that it led to Nestle manufacturing chocolate in a morsel form in 1940. The company also made a deal with Wakefield to print her cookie recipe on its chocolate chip packages.
Today, there are an estimated 200 registered chocolate shops in New York, indicating the confection remains a popular treat.
Other fun facts about chocolate are listed below.
The Aztecs and Mayans used cacao beans as currency.
Theobromine and phenylethylamine found in chocolate trigger the brain’s pleasure centers, indicating chocolate may elevate a person’s mood.
Dark chocolate contains antioxidants that have been shown to have cardiovascular health benefits.
In 1847, U.S. Fry & Sons, a British chocolatier, created the first commercial eating chocolate bar.
In 1900, Milton S. Hershey of America manufactured the Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar.
In 1909, Milton Hershey and his wife Catherine founded the Milton Hershey School for orphaned and underprivileged children. The school still operates today, serving children from low-income families.
Photo Credit: Shawn Miller, Library of Congress
