Dept 56: A History of Chocolate Easter Bunnies

Dept 56, Christmas in the City,
"The Chocolate Shoppes,"
56.59684

Personal Comments--If you want to get straight to the history, scroll down to "90 Million Chocolate Bunnies" below.  I am not a selfish person.  If I have a lot of chocolate, I will share it.  You and I may, however, disagree on the definition of "a lot of chocolate."  Note, if I am in possession of the chocolate, I get to define "a lot."  I have learned these negotiating skills from my children.  They learned them from my husband.

I will share my chocolate eggs, but I will not share my chocolate bunnies.  Bunnies cannot be easily shared.  Besides, I have already suggested that I have an affinity for chocolate, and now I must mention that I have an affinity for animals.

Dept. 56, Snow Village,
"Chocolate Bunny Factory,"
56.55355

Therefore,  of course, I have a logarithmically high affinity for chocolate animals, including chocolate bunnies.  I have learned that logic goes a long way in blunting the cloying suggestions from my children that I should share my chocolate bunnies.  "Department 56 Heritage Village Collection Christmas in the City Series "The Chocolate Shoppe

Fortunately, my children can get as much chocolate as they can afford, given that they have jobs and the health insurance necessary to ameliorate the ill effects from the consumption of as much chocolate as they wish to eat.  They may choose to spend their limited resources on chocolate in general, but I suspect they will focus on chocolate bunnies, because they cannot easily be shared.

Dept 56, Snow Village,
"Hershey's Chocolate Shop,"
56.54913

90 Million Chocolate Bunnies  No one should worry about my prohibition against sharing chocolate bunnies.  Why?  Because 90 million chocolate Easter bunnies are produced each YEAR.  If you think that is a big number, try this:  Every DAY, 80 million Hershey's Kisses are produced.  On average, an American eats 12 pounds of chocolate each year, much of it Hershey's! Annual chocolate sales in the US reach $13 Billion.  And yet, Americans are only 9th in the world in chocolate consumption, far behind the Swiss, who hold first place.

Chocolate in Victoria England  ....back to Dept 56, which has strategically developed entire vertical industries in their miniature Christmas villages to satisfy my, and the world's, chocolate Easter bunny cravings.  Examine Dickens Village, for example.  They have buildings that represent a fully-integrated system to import cocoa beans, grind them, make chocolate, add milk for milk chocolate. and from that, create and distribute chocolate Easter bunnies.

Dept 56, Dickens Village,
"Hickman Wells Gentlemen's Club,
56.58743

This all began in 1657, when "Chocolate Houses" began to open in London. These became gathering places, where people chatted over chocolate drinks sweetened with sugar, ale, beer, snacks, or coffee. The most famous was White's Chocolate House, opened by Francis White in St. James Street. Many of these "chocolate houses" evolved into exclusive men's clubs, over time, as did White's, which is open to this day.Department 56 Dickens Village Hickman Wells Gentlemens Club

Dept 56, Dickens village,
"T. Watling Ships & Sails,"
56.58752

 To satisfy England's desire for chocolate, the cocoa beans first had to be imported from the Americas and later Africa.  This required a system of ships, canals, and railroads to import the beans and distribute the chocolate after its production.Department 56 Dickens Village T Watling Ships & Sails

Technological Advances  Cocoa beans required processing before chocolate could be produced from them.  The factory, called a "cocoa works," might have utilized two technologies that were introduced to England during the industrial revolution to facilitate the manufacture of chocolate.

Dept 56, Dickens Village,
"Glendun Cocoa Works," 56.58478

The first technical advance was the steam engine-driven cocoa bean grinder, introduced in 1795 by Dr. Joseph Fry of Bristol.  This facilitated faster and easier grinding, and resulted, I suspect, in uniform sizes of bean particles.

Second, in 1866, George Cadbury introduced a cocoa press from Holland, which removed the cocoa butter.  This was very significant, because 50% of cocoa was "butter," or fat, which tasted bad.  Factories had tried various additives to absorb the fat and mask its taste, but none had been very successful.

During the 19th century, chocolate production began to soar, and the first chocolate Easter egg was introduced in England in 1873.  Like all other cocoa products in 1873, the first Easter bunnies were dark chocolate.  It was 16 more years before the Cadbury Company adopted the technique of adding powdered milk to create milk chocolate.

Dept 56, Dickens Village,
"Tending the New Calves,"
56.58395

Fortunately for England, there were dairy farms in which to raise the cows to provide the milk necessary to manufacture milk chocolate....Department 56 Heritage Village Tending the New Calves

Dept 56, Dickens Village,
"Eight Maids A-Milking-VIII,"
56.58384

Also fortunately, there were Eight Maids A-Milking!Department 56 Twelve Days of Christmas Eight Maids A-Milking

Department 56, Dickens Village,
"Abbey Lane Chocolates," 56.58760

After processing of the cocoa beans, addition of the milk, and production of the chocolate, Department 56 has provided us with a wagon to distribute the goodies, and the retail store to sell it, Abbey Lane Chocolates.
Department 56 Dickens Village Abbey Lane Chocolates Set of 2

In 1919, two chocolate manufacturers merged, J. S. Fry's Company  (of the Fry family that introduced the cocoa bean grinder) and Cadbury PLC (of the Cadbury family that introduced the cocoa butter press,)  forming the British Cocoa and Chocolate Company.  In 2010 Kraft Food acquired this company, and is now the largest confectionery in the world.

Dept 56, Alpine Village,
"Konditorei Schokolade," 56.56146

Swiss Chocolate  Not to be outdone by England, Switzerland has also developed a tradition of fine quality chocolates, made by companies such as Tobler, Teuscher, and Lindt.  As I mentioned earlier, the Swiss lead the world in per capita chocolate consumption, at 25.6 pounds/person/year!  It is no wonder that 54% of Swiss chocolate is consumed within the country.  Nonetheless, it is an industry that collects about $1.5 billion in sales.