Chocolate: Recent Developments

Throughout the twentieth century, chocolate was mostly eaten in America in the form of highly sweetened, mass-produced candy, often bought in individually wrapped bars from vending machines or corner stores and, later, supermarkets. Among the most important manufacturers were Hershey’s and Mars. Chocolate in several forms (bitter, bittersweet, or sweet, in tablets or chips) was also manufactured on a large scale for cooking purposes, the most popular producer being the old New England firm of Walter Baker. Drinking chocolate was generally made with cocoa powder, the solid component of cacao from which the fat has been extracted.