How chocolate became tied to Valentine’s Day

Heart-shaped boxes lled with decadent treats are coveted giōs on ValenƟne’s Day. Chocolate lovers typically have a favorite type of chocolate, whether it’s creamy lled truffles or chocolate pieces with fruit or nut llings.

The tradiɵon of giōing chocolate is anything but new. Chocolate and other sweet treats have been offered for centuries as prized giōs. Even ancient Aztecs and Mayans celebrated chocolate and saw it as a hot commodity. Drinks made of cacao beans would be given as presents to people of high status. Chocolate also would be offered to the gods as a token of appreciaɵon. Cacao beans were even used as a form of currency at one point.

During the 17th century, chocolate consumpɵon grew considerably across Europe. Chocolate houses cropped up in London, and the French elite oōen indulged in chocolate. Chocolate’s popularity conɵnued to grow, but the dessert was not linked to Valenɵne’s Day unɵl nearly 200 years later. In the mid-1800s, an enterprising individual named Richard Cadbury was looking for a way to make chocolate even more popular than it already was. He sought out a method to make drinking chocolate more palatable and created “eaɵng chocolates.” These chocolates were packaged in decoraɵve boxes. Eventually, Cadbury saw the benet of puƫng images of cupids and roses on the boxes. Cadbury even designed chocolate boxes in the shape of hearts that could be saved as mementos. These chocolates soon became intertwined with Valenɵne’s Day celebraɵons.

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Hershey dabbled in commercializing chocolate as well. Hershey began as a caramel maker, but experimented with covering the caramels in chocolate in 1894. Hershey would go on to develop one of the most successful brands of chocolate in the United States, which included the famous Hershey bar. In 1907, Hershey launched producɵon of tear-drop shaped “kisses.” (The chocolates were given their unusual name because of the “smooching” noise made by the chocolate when being manufactured.) The kisses became wildly popular and made for affordable chocolate giōs on Valenɵne’s Day.

Many other chocolate manufacturers soon began packaging their chocolates in special boxes for Valenɵne’s Day. Russell Stover and Whitmans are two such manufacturers who have long specialized in heart-shaped boxes or other decoraɵve Valenɵne’s giōs.

Tradiɵonally, men have giōed women with boxes of chocolate for Valenɵne’s Day. However, that role is reversed in other areas of the world. For example, in Japan, women give giōs — namely chocolates — to the men in their lives to express love, courtesy or social obligaɵon. This tradiɵon rst began in 1936 when confecɵoner Morozoff Ltd. ran the rst ever Valenɵne’s Day ad in Japan through a local English newspaper. By the 1950s, other Japanese confecɵoners were following suit.

Chocolate has long been Ɵed to ValenƟne’s Day giōing. Whether one believes that chocolate symbolizes heightened status, acts as an aphrodisiac or is just a special treat, chocolates will likely always be associated with the day of love.