Back
12/09/2024 | UB-Meldung

Viewable in ORKA: Grimm letters document early chocolate enjoyment

Hessian State Archives in Marburg, Collection 340, Grimm No. Br 5741

Until around the middle of the 19th century, chocolate was a drink in Germany: the wealthy and aristocrats enjoyed their cocoa by the cupful. The invention of Coenraad Johannes van Houten's cocoa butter press in 1828 was previously regarded as the birth of edible chocolate.

Now, however, a scientist at the University of Kassel has found evidence of an even earlier consumption of chocolate in the shape of a ball - in letters written by the Brothers Grimm.

The evidence comes from two Grimm letters that can be viewed on the online repository ORKA.

The letters in question are Marburg letters no. 5741 https://www.grimm-portal.de/viewer/image/1390891887999/61/LOG_0026/ and no. 5711 https://www.grimm-portal.de/viewer/image/1390891584183/79/.

Further information on this historical find can be found here.