Milk chocolate was invented by Daniel Peter of Switzerland in 1876. The ground cocoa nib was processed with sugar and milk solids and the result was a product that today is the mainstay of the chocolate industry.
Making milk chocolate took a lot of work and was very expensive. It also took a lot of time, but it was worth every minute. Daniel Peter managed to succeed by using condensed milk.
The invention of milk chocolate was links to two aspects of the milk industry in Switzerland
*A surplus of milk in the country
*The development of methods for preservation of milk by the Nestlé Co.
Daniel Peters drew his inspiration for producing milk chocolate from Henry Nestlé own success in combining milk, wheat flour and sugar for infant cereal. Daniel Peter came up with the idea of using Nestlé’s milk powder in a new kind of chocolate. The mixture of cocoa powder (a Dutch invention from Van Houten) and creamy farm milk, a Swiss specialty, revolutionized the world of chocolate.
Cadbury’s Dairy Milk Chocolate was developed in the early 1900s and similar products by many other manufacturers followed. Milton Hershey found a way to mass produce milk chocolate, or make large amounts of it, in his factory in Hershey Pennsylvania.
Peter’s development of milk chocolate: he used its sweetened condensed milk to produce early versions of his milk chocolate.
Nevertheless, Peter’s chocolate products, manufactured by his own company, Societe Generale Suisse de Chocolat, were marketed under the Nestlé brand name and distributed from just after the turn of the twentieth century until 1929, when Nestlé acquired Pater’s company.
Milk chocolate: history and invention
