Chocolate syrup was used as "medicine"

Chocolate syrup to be applied to bread and pancakes, etc. is considered as part of sweets in modern times, but it was frequently used as "medicine" from the 19th century to the 20th century. The history of how chocolate has been treated by pharmacists and turning to sweets is spelled out by overseas media Smithsonian.

The Unlikely Medical History of Chocolate Syrup | Science | Smithsonian
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/unlikely-medical-history-chocolate-syrup-180964779

Looking at the magazine for the pharmacist "The Druggists Circular and Chemical Gazette" published in December, 1896, it is mixed with disposable white coat and syringe advertisement,HersheyYou can see that advertisement of cocoa powder is posted. In the advertisement, the words "SOLUBLE (water soluble)" and "Warranted absolutely pure (with guarantee with 100% genuine)" are powerfully written, it looks as if cocoa is treated as a medicine. Actually, in the 1800's and 1900's, chocolate was often treated as a part of medicine, not as a sweet.


Origin of chocolate dates back more than 3000 years ago, in the old days it is around 1500 BCOlmecca civilizationBut it was being consumed. Chocolate at the time was not a sweet food that is now familiar, it was a very bitter drink made by grinding fermented and roasted beans. Despite its bitterness, chocolate is valuable as valuable, and in Aztec civilization cocoa is also used as a currency.

Meanwhile, in the United States and the United States chocolate will be consumed in the late 15th century that has been long since. In the 1700's, sugar and other ingredients were added, and chocolate drinks became familiar with the same feeling as the current cocoa. The fact that chocolate at the time was different from the current chocolate was prescribed as a medicine for sickness. Life and disability become deficient due to protein and energyExhaustionAlso one of the diseases in which chocolate was prescribed. Chocolate increased the weight of the eater and said that chemicals such as caffeine can not cure the disease itself, as if it energizes the patient, but it was used as a medicine to lighten the symptoms.


One of the big reasons why chocolate was favored by pharmacists was that it was very tasty. Extracted from plantsalkaloidMany of the medicines categorized as having bitterness. The origin of the alkaloid was morphine released in the 1800's, but it was chocolate that served as a covering medicine bitterness just when morphine was ingested. Especially it is said that there were no drinks better than chocolate when children were to take medicine.

The time when pharmacists created syrups with cocoa powder and sugar is strictly unknown, but the popularity of pharmacist chocolate syrup isBanhotenCasparus van Houten, the founder, got bigger as a result of selling powder cocoa mass as "cocoa". In 1828BanhotenCoenraad J. Van Houten, the second president and the scientist, removes some of the fat from the chocolate, gets a patent on technology to reduce bitterness and make it more soluble in water, and cocoa powder will evolve further. However, at this point, it was necessary to add at least 8 times the sugar of cocoa powder to improve the taste.


The popularity of chocolate syrup exploded in the late 19th century. At this time, regardless of the prescription of the doctor it is sold at a drug store "Drug discovery"Has become popular. However, there were no laws to regulate drugs at that time, so sales of drugs from vegetables and fruits, alcohol andOpioidIt is said that there were many that caused harm but not actually cured the disease in fact.

Cocoa powder was frequently used in the manufacture of this drug. When the mass production of medicines is done in the factory in the 1900's, drugs of tablet type which can be easily swallowed appear, but until then until then it has been difficult to manufacture tablet type liquids or powdered drugs as mainstream did. The pharmacists were based on syrups sweetened with liquid sugar such as chocolate based on syrups of medicinal ingredients and supplied them to customers with it added to drinks. At this time, the liquid which dissolves the medicine was various such as water, tea, whiskey, but carbonate water gained popularity in particular.

Unlike chocolate, carbonated water was not initially regarded as a "healthy" drink. However, by mimicking the natural foam water containing a lot of minerals and establishing a method for selling the carbon dioxide tank necessary for the pharmacist Jacob Baur to make carbonated water, it will become popular in the United States I will. Sweet carbonated drinks, which were said to be equipped with both "health" and "deliciousness" spread widely across the country.

bychris boyle

The syrup used for drug discovery gained more popularity by adding enthusiasm to soda. Carbonated beverages with flavors such as lemon and ginger are popular now, but in the late 1800 's, chocolate flavored carbonated water was scattered around the pharmacist magazines. As it was hard to say that many of the pharmacists at that time had earned enough revenue, soda beverage was being sold as a source of income for pharmacists. It is part of this trend that Coca-Cola was once sold with cocaine under the influence of "stimulation to body and brain".

However, with the "Pure Food and Drug" law was enacted that the pharmacist who came out need to be described to accurately label the material of the therapeutic agent in 1906, as cocoa production can be performed at low cost by advances in technology in becomes powder in as began to appear a "chocolate bar" not to, we will treat of chocolate is changed from the "medicine" to "candy". After that, it came to Hershey's in 1926 sold under the commercial a "chocolate syrup" itself, a pharmacist who will no longer need to make a syrup formulated. Chocolate syrup for household will also appear in 1930.

In this trend, "chocolate" as a sweetness will gather enormous popularity. As of 2017, "The brain's recognition function improvesAlthough the health benefits of chocolate such as "It is announced, it is treated as sweets, and it is said that it is the market of 35 billion yen in the United States.

byBertalan Szürös