Buy a print

View artwork

Profile

 
return to ABOUT_NOW.html

CHOCOLATE EGG


The spring equinox has long been a time to celebrate birth and renewal. Eggs and rabbits were seen by many early societies to be symbols of fertility. These rituals were adopted by christianity and absorbed into western culture. The chocolate egg was first  introduced in Europe in the early  19th Century with John Cadbury following the trend by making the first UK eggs in 1875.


Initially these were dark chocolate decorated  with piping and marzipan flowers. In 1866 Cadbury, following and earlier Dutch invention, developed a process to extract cocoa butter from the cocoa bean. This made moulded chocolate  much easier and  slowly lead to the creation of milk chocolate and many of the modern chocolate products.