Chocolate — The dark, the light, the bittersweet

Summer isn't the typical time to think chocolate, unless you're watching Johnny Depp floating on a river of it in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." (That's a two-for-one deal on eye candy.) Compared with the 1971 version, called "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," this remake follows today's trend in chocolate: a bit more dark and bittersweet.

This sweet substance has inspired more sensuous, romantic films, including 1992's "Like Water For Chocolate" and another film starring Depp, 2000's "Chocolat."

What we know today as chocolate is a far cry from the ancient drink of the Mayans and Aztecs in Central America. The Spanish carried cacao (the seeds used to make cocoa) back to Europe, where chocolate drinks became the rage among aristocrats. In 1657 the first of many English "chocolate houses" appeared, where the upper crust could socialize and drink hot chocolate.

Mass production of cocoa became possible when the steam engine was invented. In 1847, a British company called J.S. Fry and Sons invented the first solid eating chocolate, made by mixing melted cocoa butter with sugar and cocoa powder. This first chocolate bar had a smooth, velvety texture, quickly replacing the coarse-grained chocolate that had dominated the world market. In Switzerland in 1876, Daniel Peter devised a way of adding milk to chocolate to create the first milk chocolate.

The Ghirardelli Chocolate Co., founded in 1852, is the oldest continuously operating American chocolate company. But it was Milton Hershey of Pennsylvania who made chocolate affordable to the masses. Rolled out on 1894, Hershey bars became the Model-T of the chocolate world.

Hershey's is popular and familiar, but it's not very high in quality, said Ron Miles, manager of Baker's Cash & Carry, which sells about 300,000 pounds of chocolate a year in Utah. Better chocolate has a creamy mouth-feel, and the texture isn't grainy, gritty or waxy.

"Most people don't realize there's any other chocolate than Hershey because they grew up eating Hershey bars," he said.

Lately there's been an effort to do for chocolate what Starbucks did with coffee. In April, candymaker Mars Inc. opened Ethel's Chocolate Lounge in Chicago, a trendy place to nibble on premium chocolates or drink cafe mocha. The company plans to turn the concept into a nationwide chain, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal. An average serving at Ethel's is a four-piece plate of chocolate (priced at about 90 cents to $1.50 per piece) and a cup of cafe mocha priced at $4.50.

Ironically, while chocolatiers are trying to become the next Starbucks, Starbucks is toying with chocolate. The corporation now sells its own brand of chocolates and chocolate-covered espresso beans.