1502 - Money Grows On Trees
Columbus is the first European to discover cocoa beans and chocolate. But it is the Conquistadors that realize the value of "money that grows on trees." Hernando de Oviedo y Valdez writes home to tell of how he was able to purchase a slave for 100 cocoa beans. Later Hernando Cortez builds a cocoa plantation for the express purpose of growing money in the name of Spain.

1519 - Falling In Love
Cortez soon discovers that Emperor Montezuma, who no doubt possesses more cocoa beans than anybody else at the time, is a "chocoholic." Montezuma, it is reported, drinks nothing but chocolate, particularly before entering his harem. He believes that the concoction is a powerful aphrodisiac. (It turns out that chocolate contains a natural substance that is reputed to stimulate the same reaction in the body as falling in love.)

1528 - How Sweet It Is
Cortez returns to Spain with cocoa beans and the tools needed to make chocolate. Not that he is particularly fond of the concoction. In fact, he is said to personally have found the drink distasteful, probably because the Aztec method of preparation called for flavoring the drink with spices, including lots of chili. Spanish cooks quickly remedy that by changing the recipe, replacing the peppers with sugar.

1606 - He Spilled The Beans
Spain manages to keep the discovery of chocolate a secret for more than a century. In the meantime, the Spanish cultivate quite a trade in the popular new beverage as well as cocoa plantations in their equatorial colonies around the world. It is an Italian merchant, Antonio Carletti, who you might say "spilled the cocoa beans" and puts in motion the process that breaks the Spanish monopoly of the chocolate trade.

1657 - The Elite Meet
England's first chocolate house opens in London. It's a big hit with the upper class and soon becomes the place where the elite meet to sip. Cocoa bean prices are exorbitant and, as the Spanish historian Oviedo, notes: "none but the rich and noble could afford" to frequent such establishments. Prices eventually drop and more chocolate houses begin to appear throughout the country, challenging the primacy of coffee and tea rooms and even pubs.

1671 - The Accidental Confectioner
The personal chef to the Duke of Plesslis-Praslin in France watches as a panful of burnt sugar spills over a bowlful of almonds. One taste and the Duke is decidedly pleased. He's so pleased, in fact, that he lends his name to this new confection and so, the "praslin" or "praliné" comes into being. But it took Belgian chocolatiers to perfect this particular treat. Eventually, the word praliné becomes synonymous with a particular type of Belgian confection featuring a molded shell of chocolate that is filled with creams, caramels, light ganache and, of course, praliné. Indeed, it later becomes the signature filling for Godiva chocolates.

1674 - The First Bite
They're still drinking chocolate throughout Europe, but enterprising bakers in England begin adding cocoa to their cake recipes making chocolate widely available in solid form for the first time. Within decades, solid chocolate becomes available throughout Europe in a variety of forms, including bars, lifting the status of chocolate from that of a stylish drink to that of a superb, sweet delicacy.

1697 - The Swiss Eat It Up
Belgium is already established as one of Europe's premier centers for the production of chocolate. When the mayor of Zurich pays a visit to Brussels, he's so taken with the taste he returns home with news of the savory concoction, the inspiration for a new Swiss industry and, no doubt, a personal supply to savor for some time to come.

1712 - America Loves It Too
By the turn of the 18th Century, chocolate makes its way back to North America. In little more than a decade, Boston apothecary shops are advertising and selling chocolate imported from Europe. Soon, Massachusetts sea captains are bringing back cargoes of cocoa beans, and the chocolate trade blossoms.

1728 - The Daily Grind
Back in Europe, chocolate factories are springing up, but they use the same age-old labor intensive methods to grind and churn their products.

1765 - American Ingenuity
American colonists crave chocolate and the demand prompts James Baker and John Hannon to start their own industrial revolution by building a chocolate factory that uses water power to mechanize the production process. Their company, today known as the Walter Baker Company, is one of the oldest still operating in the U.S.

1772 - de Sade Has A Ball
Leave it to the Marquis de Sade to rekindle the old chestnut about chocolate being a powerful aphrodisiac. He gives a ball in Marseilles and, as author Louis Petit de Bachaumont writes: "into the dessert he slipped chocolate pastilles so good that... no one failed to eat some. It proved to be so potent that those who ate the pastilles began to burn with unchaste ardor and to carry on as if in the grip of the most amorous frenzy." The story may be apocryphal, but the infamous Marquis was arrested soon after the ball was over.

1792 - The Learning Curve
The Swiss, who today consume more chocolate per capita than any other nation on earth (22 pounds compared to 11 pounds per person in the U.S.), are still trying to master the art of making chocolate. So, when the famed German author Johann Wolfgang von Goethe embarks on a tour of Switzerland, he takes no chances and packs his own chocolate and chocolate pot for the journey.

1815 - Dutch Treat
Dutch chemist Johannes Van Houten begins experiments that result in the discovery of a new kind of powdered chocolate with a very low fat content - what we now know as cocoa. Van Houten's patented process involves the use of alkaline salts to treat the powdered chocolate and this "Dutching," as the technique is known, improves the chocolate's ability to dissolve in warm water and makes it darker in color and milder in flavor. Van Houten also builds an hydraulic press that makes possible for the first time mass production of chocolate both in an easy-to-use powdered form and in solid form.

1819 - The Swiss Get The Hang Of It
One hundred twenty two years after the mayor of Zurich brought chocolate back with him from Brussels, the Swiss develop a knack for making chocolate and Francois Louis Cailler opens the first Swiss chocolate factory on Lake Geneva. Not to be outdone, six years later Philippe Suchard builds his own machines, including the world's first chocolate mixer, and starts making his own confections.

1847 - A New Taste Sensation
If J.S. Fry & Sons of Bristol, founded in 1728, is not the oldest chocolate factory in England, it certainly is its most enduring and innovative. In fact, one son, Joseph, had the ingenuity to purchase and install a steam engine in his factory in 1789 soon after Watt invented the machine. A grandson, Francis, and a great grandson, another Joseph, carry on the tradition of innovation by adopting Van Houten's process and press and discovering a way to combine cocoa powder, sugar and cocoa butter to make the first real chocolate bars.

1879 - Milking The Process
Once they get started, the Swiss quickly show the world just how much they love their chocolate. They are the first to add powdered milk to the process and they refine the chocolate making art by introducing a "conching" machine that gives chocolate confections a smooth, creamy texture.

1895 - Now Everybody Can Have Some
America's love affair with chocolate heats up when Milton S. Hershey sells his first Hershey Bar in Pennsylvania using modern, mass-production techniques that make the product less expensive and, thus, available for mass consumption.

1926 - Lady Godiva
Mass production of chocolate serves to create a universal appetite for the confection, in all its forms. But it also spurs a growing demand for "luxury" chocolates made with the choicest ingredients by expert chocolatiers who blend flavors and textures into formidable, one-of-a-kind taste experiences. The Draps family begins a chocolate-making "atelier" in Brussels, the city that introduced chocolates to the Swiss more than two centuries ago. Some years later, the Draps' son, Joseph, takes over the company and, at his wife's suggestion, names it after Lady Godiva whose legendary exploit made her name synonymous with grace, nobility and flair. Draps' vision is to create the world's most elegant, handcrafted chocolates for discerning consumers.

1966 - Americans Have Taste
Godiva begins selling its luxury chocolate selections in America at finer department stores for the first time, having firmly established itself as the world's premier chocolate brand; the name, itself, has come to suggest exquisite taste. Belgian competitors credit Godiva for creating the market for super-premium chocolates by putting the emphasis on producing a product of the highest quality and introducing the concepts of stimulating advertising, sophisticated packaging and selective distribution.

1968 - Fit For A King
It's official! Godiva chocolates are acknowledged to be fit for a king, a queen or any other royal personage, when it becomes a Royal Warrant Holder and the official purveyor of fine chocolate to the Belgian Royal Court.

1972 - Oh Kid, What A Candy Store
Fifth Avenue becomes just a little more glamorous when Godiva opens its first U.S. boutique in New York City. The store is located halfway between Tiffany & Company to the north and Cartier to the south, and is clearly intended to cater to the same sophisticated consumers by offering a dazzling display of chocolates laid out like jewels in glass cases. The international accent on this legendary thoroughfare makes it the fitting choice for a store that is pioneering a European-style, carriage-trade approach to chocolate retailing; the shop quickly becomes a part of the New York scene.It also becomes the flagship of Godiva's North American retail operation.

1995 - The Rabbi And The Internet
It's another year of firsts for Godiva. The company begins offering the most extensive Kosher selection of chocolate delicacies of any luxury chocolatier under the guidance of its own Rabbinical coordinator, Rabbi Moshe Elefant of the Orthodox Union Kashruth Division.

2001 - The World According To Draps
If a diamond "is forever," then it makes a fitting symbol as Godiva celebrates its Diamond Anniversary of 75 years at a time when the popularity of the Godiva super-premium brand of chocolates is at an all-time high and continues to grow. The company has come a long way in three-quarters of a century, but it has never lost sight of the innovative vision of founding family member Joseph Draps. From a small family "atelier" in Brussels in 1926, to the official purveyor of fine chocolate to the Belgian Royal Court in 1989, Godiva is now a truly global luxury brand. The French word for a treasure chest is "ballotin," and Godiva's ballotin, its signature gold box, is today one of the most widely recognized luxury icons.
Source-Godiva

Godiva uses two production methods to manufacture the various sizes and shapes of our chocolates: enrobing and shell-molding. Enrobing involves coating a formed center, like rich caramel, with smooth, melted chocolate. The shell-molding process is practiced extensively in Europe, and it is the method used to manufacture most Godiva chocolates.

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