Today, we visited Sibö Chocolate, where we got to learn about the history of chocolate, and more importantly, taste some! Chocolate began as a drink used for energy and its medicinal properties of helping stomach issues. Spices were also mixed in to help mask the bitter taste of the cocoa. After a happy accident of grinding the cocoa nibs for too long, solid chocolate bars were created! This later led to the invention of milk chocolate through the addition of milk powder. Milk chocolate revolutionized the chocolate industry because it required fewer of the expensive cocoa beans, which made the overall price lower and opened up their target audience to kids.
Coffee and chocolate are actually quite similar. Both plants require the beans to be taken out of a casing, dried, and then roasted, however, chocolate has an extra step of fermentation. Chocolate was also used as a medium of exchange due to its high value. For example, one cocoa nib could be traded for one tomato, and ten nibs for a chicken. Unlike coffee, in history, chocolate was threatened due to its connection with the cosmetic industry. During wartime, chocolate was being made without cocoa butter to ensure it would not melt in soldiers’ bags. This excess of cocoa butter was being sold to cosmetic companies to make products like lipstick at a lower price. However, with the introduction of petroleum, which was much cheaper, cosmetic companies stopped buying from chocolate companies, and they lost a lot of profit. Despite this, chocolate companies were able to bounce back with the creation of white chocolate, comprised of sugar, milk powder, and cocoa butter.
Despite the high-quality chocolate from Sibö Chocolate, they are a rather small company, making it harder for them to stand out against other large chocolate corporations. One way they are able to do this though it through their sustainability practices. They use the cocoa husks, a thin paper-like material that covers the cocoa beans, to construct the box that their chocolate bonbons come in. They also do not use plastic inside the box, and instead use recyclable paper. Their chocolate bars are also packaged with paper, and not plastic. By showing consumers the great value they place on sustainability, Sibö Chocolate is able to reach a broader audience and compete with larger companies.