The Dutch company Van Houten invented the screw press, which improved the chocolate-making process. The press crushed the fermented roasted beans, forcing the chocolate butter out. The remaining chocolate, free of its fats, was finely ground into a powder and drunk as hot chocolate. A further improvement came when they decided to remix the chocolate butter and add sugar. Many chocolatiers in the Netherlands, Belgium, and Switzerland experimented with this approach, but it was in England that Fry & Sons created the first chocolate bars in 1847. Thus, the chocolate industry was born.
