But who had this crazy idea to invent a chocolate bar one day?

The French consume an average of 8 kg per family per year. 8 kg of chocolate, which they enjoy in all its forms: solid and liquid. But chocolate has come a long way before becoming a staple in our cupboards, in the form of powder or wafers, before making its way into bites, candies, eggs and other Easter hens and fishes.

Drink and not eat

Before we get to the “heavy” part of the subject, we need to go back in time and stop about 2,500 years before Christ, in Mesoamerica, or rather the Gulf Coast, the Basin of Mexico, and the present. day the Mexican states of Guerrero, Oaxaca and Chipas. The Olmecs lived here. And, without a doubt, they were the first to cultivate the cocoa tree. Then they know how to convert the beans into powdered chocolate…but not bars yet.

At that time they were drinking chocolate. It is made into tinctures, consumed during rituals or used as medicine. The Mayans settled in Mexico also make a chocolate drink. From roasted cacao beans, ground, then mixed with chili peppers, water and cornmeal, they make xocolatl, bitter water. These traditions around cocoa will continue. And on the 15th?^e century, the Aztecs continued to drink chocolate to refresh themselves and prepare for war. They even attribute aphrodisiac powers to it and use the bean as currency.

On the Pistols trail

How will chocolate cross borders? Thanks to Christopher Columbus who returned to Europe with a sack of beans. But it was the conquistador Hernán Cortés who popularized it and, above all, adapted it to the tastes of the time. When he returned to Spain in 1527, he had the Aztec recipe for hot chocolate and several utensils for making it in his luggage. Soon, his mixture of boiling water, cocoa powder, and cane sugar became a hit among the Spanish nobility. Nectar would spread throughout Europe, although it would take several years for it to be adopted in France.

It was in 1615, with the marriage of Anne of Austria, daughter of King Philip III of Spain, to Louis XIII that the precious mixture was established in France. But it was really under Louis XIV and led by his wife, Marie-Therese of Austria, that its consumption took place at court. For a long time it was reserved for the aristocracy, always more sophisticated and refined. Sulpice Debauve, founder of the Debauve & Gallais chocolate factory in 1800, established himself as one of the great “reformers” of this substance. This son of a doctor, certified apothecary to the king at the courts of Versailles and Saint-Cloud, a true scientist, would very early immerse himself in the study of cacao. A purveyor to King Louis XVI, he focused mainly on satisfying Marie-Antoinette’s fondness for chocolate. The Queen is not entirely satisfied… Too much bitterness in the drinks.

Sulpice would therefore invent for himself the Pistoles de la Reine, in the form of coins of the time, coated with cocoa and garnished with almond milk. A real “shot” of sweetness, which is first of all a crucial step in the history of chocolate. it’s hard and cold here for the first time. Clearly, these Pistols aren’t going to be confined to the apartments of Marie-Antoinette. All European courts will fight for them. Sulpice Debov, who opened a boutique on the rue de Saint-Père in 1819, saw more and more customers flocking to his semicircular counter. The latter resembles an apothecary and was designed by the very fashionable architects Persier and Fontaine, who notably worked on the Château de Malmaison and designed the Carrousel arch of the Louvre.

The home, still at this address and now listed, will never be empty, attracting a public of enthusiasts who love new products and innovations even more. Because at Debauve & Gallais, we can be proud to have created the first bars with a high percentage of cocoa, the Croquamandes, the first dried fruit covered in chocolate, and to have filed a patent in 1838 that testifies to the discovery of the first cocoa process. dehydration of milk.

Meunier did not rest on his laurels

Chocolate as we know it today was almost sold out. In any case, it is already chewable. It will be democratized by Antoine Brutus Meunier. Born in Bourgay in 1795 and trained as a pharmacist, Antoine Brutus Menier founded the Menier Chocolate Company in 1816 in Marais, Paris, a milestone for chocolatiers. His profession? Medicines whose unpleasant taste he hides by adding chocolate. As demand grew, he bought a mill in Neusiel. And while pharmaceuticals were his main business, he oddly decided in 1830 to develop table chocolate, which was still considered a luxury. Thanks to his industrial tools, he manages to offer quality and affordable household chocolate. And in 1836, he had the brilliant idea to release a pack of six chocolate bars. In 1847, Francis Fry, a chocolate manufacturer in England, perfected the formula and created the bar… That’s it. Finally. We know the rest: the plate, its bars and squares will enter our everyday life without ceasing to melt all the gourmets.