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Mar 24, 1492
What are these?
Columbus returns from his voyage. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella were presented with many strange and wonderful things… the few dark brown beans that looked like almonds didn’t get a lot of attention. -
Across the Sea
The first shipment of beans intended for the market makes it to Spain. -
Cocoa as Currency
200 small cocoa beans were valued at 1 Spanish real, or 4 cents. -
New Trends
An Avant Guard, London Coffee House called At the Coffee Mill and Tobacco Roll, goes down in the annals of history for serving chocolate in cakes, and also in rolls… in the Spanish style. -
Chocolate in America
Diligently forging the concept of Democracy, Americans take time out to discover Chocolate. -
Production in the USA
The production of chocolate proceeded at a faster pace than anywhere else in the world. It was in pre-Revolutionary New England. -
Machine-made
The first machine-made chocolate is produced in Barcelona. -
Melts in Your Mouth
Rodolphe Lindt of Berne, Switzerland, invented "conching", a means of heating and rolling chocolate to refine it. After chocolate has been conched for 72 hours and has more cocoa butter added to it, chocolate becomes "fondant" and it melts in your mouth! -
CMA
The Chocolate Manufacturers Association of the United States of America (CMA) was organized in. -
Business
The New York Cocoa Exchange, located at the World Trade Center, was begun so that buyers and sellers could get together for transactions.
