Chocolate Bars

Chocolate was first used as non-liquid confection in England. The inventor of 'chocolate for eating' is unknown, but in 1847 Joseph Fry discovered a way to mix cocoa powder, sugar, and cocoa to create a paste that could be pressed into a mold. The resulting Bar was a success. People enjoyed eating the chocolate as much as they did drinking it. The early eating chocolate bars were made of bittersweet chocolate.

A solid chocolate bar contains some or all of the following components: cocoa solids, cocoa butter, sugar, and milk. The relative presence or absence of these define the subclasses of chocolate bar made of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate. In addition to these main ingredients a solid chocolate bar may contain flavorings such as vanilla and emulsifiers such as soy lecithin to alter its consistency. Some chocolate bars contain added milk fat, to make the chocolate softer, since milk fat is a softer fat than cocoa butter. While sugar is commonly used as a sweetener for chocolate bars, some chocolate bars use sugar alcohols such as maltitol as an alternative.