Chocolate in the 19th and 20th Centuries

Already by the end of the 18th century there had been a perceptible increase in the amount of chocolate being eaten, in slabs and pastilles, in ices and sorbets, as an ingredient in desserts and main dishes, in pastas and soups. This was all full fat chocolate; the raw cacao bean is about 50 per cent fat by weight. Attempts to reduce the fat content of chocolate during processing had been made in the late 17th century; but it was not until the Dutchman van Houten developed a screw press, patented in 1828, that real success was achieved. It removed about two-thirds of the cocoa butter from the chocolate paste, leaving a residue which became known as cocoa. This dispersed easily in water and was considered more digestible than full-fat chocolate. Alkalizing, or ‘Dutching’, was a process which also originated with van Houten, who found that treating cacao during processing with potassium carbonate led to a milder flavour and darker colour.