Cocoa beans cultivated by the Aztecs and Mayas were so highly-prized they even served as a means of payment! In 1528, Conquistador Cortez made the first shipment to Spain, where cocoa was a great success with the court. When Infanta Anna of Austria, raised in Madrid, married Louis XII in 1615, she introduced this exotic drink to France. Its popularity spread across Europe, with solid chocolate originating in France and first produced in Switzerland by François-Louis Cailler as late as 1819. Many chocolate factories then sprang up here, including those of Philippe Suchard, Charles-Amédée Kohler, Rudolf Sprüngli, Rodolphe Lindt and Jean Tobler. 

In 1875, Swiss confectioner Daniel Peter developed the first solid chocolate incorporating condensed milk, a refinement perfected by Henri Nestlé, his neighbour in Vevey. This game-changer and the quality of Swiss chocolate made it N°1 on the world market from 1890 to 1918, coinciding with the Golden Age of Swiss tourism and leading to exportation of 75% of its production. Since 1950, the Swiss chocolate industry has reported constant growth thanks to new production techniques, economic integration, dismantling of customs controls, and development of new products. Today, the Swiss Platform for Sustainable Cocoa founded in 2017 by the Chocosuisse association of 15 manufacturers plus importers, traders, retailers and research institutions, aims for 80% of cocoa imports to come from sustainable cultivation by 2025. It also supports UN goals to preserve resources and improve living conditions in producing countries.

Swiss milk chocolate is an aid to concentration, a boost for stamina. Even more persuasively, in Theobroma Cacao L, the plant's botanical name, "Theobrama" means "food of the gods"!