How Chocolate Became a Valentine’s Day Essential
Is this due to chocolate’s aphrodisiac properties, or is it a way for candy makers to boost sales during the low season between Christmas and Easter?
Many lovers around the world associate Valentine’s Day with conversational hearts, an abundance of truffles, and heart-shaped chocolate boxes.
But where did this custom originate? Valentine’s Day originated in Roman times, but giving chocolates as gifts is a much more recent phenomenon.
Valentine’s Day is actually named after two different Roman saints with the same name who had nothing to do with romantic love.
The purpose of Valentine’s Day is to honor the most important person in your life
Sending a flower joke or joke along with a romantic bouquet or box of chocolates can always make the recipient smile, whether that person is your partner, daughter or a close friend.@chikama style pic.twitter.com/rizuuOf4RQ— Nairobi Fashion Hub (@FashionNairobi) February 7, 2023
There is no evidence to support the deep-rooted tradition that the first Saint Valentine was a clergyman and performed illegitimate weddings for the soldiers of Emperor Claudius.
Geoffrey Chaucer, writing in 1382, first mentioned St. Valentine’s Day as an occasion for love.
The attention to illegal but chaste court love changed during the Middle Ages, and some of the famous iconography began to emerge at this time.
The knights gave the maidens roses and sang praises of their beauty from afar.
Sugar was still a valuable commodity in Europe, so the idea of trading sweet gifts never occurred.
Who made the first Valentine’s Day chocolate box?
By the 1840s, the majority of the English-speaking world had adopted Valentine’s Day as a celebration of romantic love.
The Victorian era, with its strict social conventions, was Cupid’s heyday. People generously spent expensive cards and gifts on each other, cherishing courtly love.
English chocolate maker and heiress to a prestigious family, Richard Cadbury, joined in this love-obsessed feud and was in charge of sales at the time.
To get pure cocoa butter from the whole bean, Cadbury recently updated their chocolate making process.
Chocolate truffle 🍬 pic.twitter.com/h0k5K6sRqW
— Chocolate Heaven (@ChocolateUrge) February 6, 2023
As a result, the drinking chocolate produced was as delicious as most Britons have ever experienced.
The result of this procedure was excess cocoa butter, which Cadbury was using to create a wider variety of what was then called “edible chocolate”. Later, he began selling his new chocolates in elaborately painted boxes that he had created himself.
From there it was just a few short steps to placing the famous Cupid and rose painting in a heart-shaped box.
Richard Cadbury didn’t actually patent the heart-shaped box, but many think he made the first heart-shaped box.
According to Cadbury marketing, the box serves two purposes. The box itself was so nice that I could use it again and again to store mementos, from locks of hair to tokens of affection after eating chocolate.
It’s the season of love 💖 And I can’t think of a better way to express your love than by sharing a bottle of Amarula Raspberry Chocolate Liqueur with your closest and significant other. mosquito? #RealMarulaOnlyAmarula #TheSpiritOfAfrica pic.twitter.com/qOweavzOjm
— Amarula (@amarula) February 6, 2023
Boxes became more and more complicated until the start of World War II.
However, Victorian-era Cadbury boxes still exist, many of which are priceless treasures treasured by collectors and beloved family heirlooms.
Content courtesy of historyChikama Style & NFH
