When was chocolate first sold

A.� The Cadbury family came up with their own recipe in 1820 that was to make chocolate commercially viable. They created a drinking chocolate product that was affordable for the masses. By 1849, Cadbury was also selling French eating chocolate which led to a reduction in sales for the chocolate beverage. Around the same time (in 1847), Fry and Son started to make tablets of roasted and ground beans, mixed with sugar. These were sold as eating chocolate. In 1876 the Swiss Daniel Peter working in conjunction with Nestle, whose creamery was next door to his factory, formulated the first commercial chocolate milk recipe. As only a tiny amount of moisture can be using to make milk chocolate, it was successful because of Nestle's new 'condensed' milk. Other manufacturers were quick to follow his lead in making this milder-flavoured chocolate, which dominates the chocolate market today.

Three years later, Lindt created the last major manufacturing technique to produce modern chocolate. He discovered that a much smoother textured product could be made if chocolate was repeatedly rolled from side to side, in a stone vessel by grinding stone. This process is called conching and can last for several days.

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Q.� Is it true Christopher Columbus discovered chocolate

A.� It's a fact that Columbus was the first European to encounter cocoa in 1502, on the Caribbean island of Guanaja. It was offered to him as a potion by hospitable inhabitants. He brought it back with him. In 1519, the Spanish Conquistadors landed in Mexico and discovered the national drink of the Aztecs was chocolate. reportedly the Aztec Emporer Montezuma, was consuming as much as 50 jars of chocolate a day.

At the beginning of the 17thC, chocolate, was it� had by now been named, was popular in France and England.� Chocolate houses were springing up as places of social gathering. In London though, the cost was so high - between 10 and 15 shillings per pound - that it was the drink of the elite.

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Q.� Does it have any health benefits

A.� The French faculty of medicine in the 18thC approved the use of chocolate, believing it had therapeutic qualities. Both Sir Hans Sloane, founder of the British Museum and physician to Queen Anne and George 11 and also the diarist Samuel Pepys, whilst travelling in Jamaica, had experienced proof� of the healing properties of cocoa and milk on sickly babies.

Today's experts have decided chocolate can be beneficial too. It carries chemicals known as phenolics, some of which can reduce heart disease if taken in sensible qualities. Montezuma and Casenova used it as an aphrodisiac as tiny quantities of theobromin and caffeine have a stimulating effect.

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Q.� How can you tell a really good bar of chocolate

A.� There is a huge difference between ordinary and really super chocolate. Just as wines and coffee have their degrees of excellence, so do cocoa beans. Great chocolate is a skilful blend of different types of coca beans, from various continents: highly fragrant Criollos from the tropics, exquisite cocas from Indonesia and the robust Forasteros from Africa.

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By Katharine MacColl