National Chocolate Milk Day
National Chocolate Milk Day
Get ready to celebrate this classic childhood favorite for National Chocolate Milk Day on September 27th.
Chocolate milk actually takes on the traditional form of chocolate consumption. The Olmec people created a chocolate drink around 1900 B.C. called tecomates. Chocolate drinks were also enjoyed by the Mayans who prepared them as offerings for the gods and served them at important events and ceremonies like weddings.
Our modern version of the drink can be attributed to physician and botanist Hans Sloane who added some milk to the bitter chocolate water served to him while in Jamaica in 1687. Sloane brought the drink mix back to Europe and began spreading the gospel of chocolate milk, telling people about its medical benefits and even selling it to apothecaries as medicine.
With the invention of cocoa powder, or more accurately, a cocoa pressing machine, in 1828 by Amsterdam company Van Houten, chocolate milk became even easier to make. By the early 1900s, chocolate milk’s popularity sparked brands like Ovaltine which opened production in 1904.
Chocolate milk got another push in terms of convenience and popularity in the 1920s with Hershey’s production of chocolate syrup. And again in the 1940s and 1950s with the release of Nestle’s Nesquik powder.
So whether you use a syrup, powder, or a fancy chocolate milk bomb, be sure to have a big glass of this sweet drink on September 27th for Nationsl Chocolate Milk Day.
