Retracing the origins of the “heart-shaped” chocolate box, a Valentine’s Day gift: Did it start with love or business?
The origin of the heart-shaped chocolate box for Valentine’s Day
Heart-shaped boxes of chocolates have become a symbol of Valentine’s Day for many couples around the world, but where did this cultural tradition originate? Although the origins of Valentine’s Day date back to Roman times, the gift-giving of sweets only became popular in recent times.
Valentine’s Day is named after two Roman saints named Valentine , neither of whom was associated with love. Although legend has it that he was originally a priest who performed illegal marriages for soldiers of Emperor Claudius. There is no evidence to support this fact.
The first mention of Valentine’s Day as a day of romantic love appears in the works of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1382. During the Middle Ages, knights would give roses to the ladies. They loved and praise their beauty with songs from the
By the 1840s, the idea of Valentine’s Day as a day of celebration of love had spread throughout English-speaking countries. This was the golden age of the god of love, Cupid, who in the Victorian era venerated polite love and gave each other elaborate cards or gifts. It was a literary ทางเข้า UFABET สำหรับสมาชิกใหม่ สมัครวันนี้ รับโบนัสฟรี idea from the Middle Ages in Europe that emphasized nobility and the spirit of knights.
During this time, Richard Cadbury, the son of a British chocolate manufacturing family, also joined the trend. He was in charge of sales during the important period of the Cadbury Company. Where he developed a chocolate production technique by extracting cocoa butter from high-quality cocoa beans. Resulting in chocolate that tasted better than any chocolate the British had ever tasted at that time.
However, this process created a large amount of cocoa butter surplus. Which he used to produce a new type of chocolate called “ready-to-eat chocolate” , and he recognized a great market opportunity in selling these chocolates in beautifully decorated boxes, which he had developed and designed himself.
Although Richard didn’t patent the heart-shaped box. Many believe he was the first to create it. Cadbury introduced the boxes for two purposes. It meant that even after the chocolates were eaten, people could use them to store keepsakes, from curls to love letters. Ultimately, the boxes became one of the symbols associated with Valentine’s Day.
The boxes became increasingly intricate in design until World War II. Which led to sugar restrictions and fewer celebrations of Valentine’s Day. Nevertheless, Victorian Cadbury chocolate boxes still exist, and many are treasured as family heirlooms or prized by collectors.