History of Fortnum's Chocolate
The History of Chocolate at Fortnum's
From the lavish courts of Spain to our own extensive chocolate collection, Fortnum's archivist Dr Tanner takes us on a voyage through the history of this remarkable and irresistible ingredient.
The Spanish explorer, Heman Cortes, introduced chocolate as a drink to the Spanish court in the 16th century. As it was too pungent and bitter for them, the Spaniards added sugar and vanilla to it. These additions made the drink much more palatable and it quickly became very popular at court and in the higher echelons of society.
Spain began to plant more and more cocoa overseas, but kept its preparation a secret for most of the 16th century. Little by little, word of the new drink began to trickle out. An Italian named Antonio Carletti took the custom home with him, and the drink and its popularity spread throughout Europe.
When the Spanish first brought chocolate back to Europe, it was served as a spiced beverage, but the replacement of chilli by sugar ensured that, by the 17th century, the drink was common among European nobility. In England those who could afford it could enjoy chocolate drinks in the new coffee and chocolate houses of London. By the early 18th century, coffee houses, which were already established meeting places in England, were joined by chocolate houses. These places were frequented by politicians, writers and socialites. The most famous were within a stone’s throw of Forntums: The Cocoa-Tree Club, St. James’ Street was the Tory Chocolate House of Queen Anne's reign, the Whig Coffee House being the St. James's, in the same street. The Cocoa-Tree Club was as notorious for the level of gambling losses incurred by its members as it was for the quality of its chocolate.
Soon the French, English, and Dutch were cultivating cacao in their colonies – first in the Caribbean, and later, in other dependencies where it would grow. It is a shaming fact that nearly all of the workers on the cocoa plantations were enslaved or indentured.
In the 18th century the idea of mixing chocolate with milk instead of water came to the fore. Credit for this happy invention goes to Sir Hans Sloane, personal physician to Queen Anne, and later Kings George I and George II – employers of Fortnum's, and clients of the company.
Hans Sloane (1660-1753) promoted the drinking of chocolate as an alternative to gin and other spirits, and emphasised its medicinal properties. He had a good head for business, and made a considerable fortune from his chocolate mixtures before selling the then secret recipe to a London apothecary, who – in turn – sold it to the Cadbury brothers.
The Natural History Museum has his original recipes for chocolate:
To Prepare Chocolate Spanish Way=
Take a pinte water as soone as boyle putt 2 ownces chocolate & two ownces sugar & mill itt on ye fyer untell it bee readdye to boyle then mill itt again & let stande a little to Coole, And milling of it fill it out to be drunke as hotte as you can.
English way thus
Take a pinte new milke & a pinte water, & when boyle putt in 2 ownces Chocolate & 3 ownces sugar, & mill itt on ye fyer as above, & when itt is readdye to boyle upp take itt of ye fyer & mix with itt two new layd eggs, butt let ye eggs be broke with ye mill in a spoonful of cold water in a pinte pott, then mix it all togather & let it be a little coole as you may drink itt.
The earliest record we have in the archive to chocolate is a letter to Captain Parry in 1826, who ordered a large quantity of cocoa paste to take with him on board HMS Hecla, which was setting off on an expedition to the North Pole.
Cocoa paste was an important commodity for the company. It was prepared in the store, and sold for domestic consumption in little crackle glazed pots. When the pot was empty, the customer could return to have it refilled.
In-house cocoa products concentrated on selling whole cocoanuts, cocoa nibs, prepared cocoa for drinking, with the company giving the provenance for each. They also sold various prepared recipes for drinking chocolate, including the Sloane recipe. Fortnum’s sold Fry’s popular chocolate, too. The Bristol firm of Fry & Sons, which had been producing the drinking variety since 1728, introduced "eating chocolate" in 1847 by combining the extracted cocoa butter with the chocolate liquor and sugar.
That said, all of Fortnum’s chocolate ‘bon bons’ came from Parisian chocolatiers Meunier, which would indicate that we did not have the means to make these delicacies ourselves at that time.
Chocolate became an increasingly important product for Fortnum's during the Edwardian era, as witnessed by the mouth-watering selection in the 1910 Christmas catalogue. French and Swiss products still dominate the offering at this time.
By the start of the Great War in 1914, the company had begun to make its own chocolates in a separate factory in Swallow Street. The fresh chocolate truffles were especially popular.
In the years immediately after the War, the company engaged a famous Hungarian chocolatier, Frederick Floris, to expand the chocolates made in house. (His wife Maria, was an equally esteemed baker, but that’s another story…). Huge investment was made in Parisian machinery (courtesy of Marquis), and the rebuilding in the late 1920s encouraged further growth, when the production was taken into Piccadilly. Frederick Floris took on an apprentice, William Pain, whose flare became immediately obvious. Under him, Fortnum's' own chocolate, made from the bean, was produced on an artisan scale. The cocoa beans were now imported from Trinidad, Java and Maracasbo in Venezuela. Another expert, Ted Nelson, was responsible for roasting the beans, conching and refining the chocolate. William Pain soon found himself making ice creams covered in chocolate for banquets and also fruits in liqueurs, which were termed "orchards in the wine cellar", chocolate fondants, hand-dipped nuts, nougats and marzipans.
Truffles were made daily on the premises to ensure freshness and delicacy of flavour.
The boxes were handmade, and packed by an army of dextrous women in the chocolate factory in Piccadilly.
By 1939, the Fortnum & Mason chocolate factory had moved out of Piccadilly once more to Brewer Street, still in the hands of Mr Floris. During the Second World War, the firm created Service Chocolate, in a distinctive pink wrapper, and this was ordered by the Ministry of Food for officers’ survival kits. The chocolate factory was damaged in the Blitz, but never ceased production.
Shortages post-war encouraged Mr Floris and Mr Pain to set up their own separate company, whose production was wholly dedicated to Fortnum & Mason. In the meantime, Mr Pain’s deputy, Christopher Wolf, had re-established chocolate production on the 5th floor of the Piccadilly building. Rather curiously, this was a separate business, named ‘Floris chocolates’, although the directors were all from Fortnum’s.
There is a wonderful Pathe News film of the 5th Floor factory in operation from 1965.
Mr. Wolf remained at Fortnum's until the 1980s, when the manufacture of chocolate finally ceased at Piccadilly, and in 1983 a contract was signed between Fortnum & Mason and Mr Pain's firm, Audrey's of Hove. Today, Audrey’s still make the iconic Fortnum & Mason chocolate creams, including the rose and violet creams that are a signature of the company.
The company has always been innovative with chocolate: in the 1930s, we sold what sounds like the most delicious and natural alternative to Nutella.
That tradition continues today, from the introduction of ruby chocolate to the baked bean truffle. I am sure Mr Floris would approve.