Derived from the seed of the Cacao tree (Theobrama Cacao), chocolate's history can be traced back to the Mayan culture around 600 AD, although it was probably around in some form in much earlier civilisations.

Cocoa pods were to the Mayan people a symbol of life and fertility, and images of them have been found carved into the stone of their temples and palaces. Their literature records the Cacao pod being used in religious rituals, and it is referred to as the "food of the gods" (a translation of its Latin name).

The earliest known Cacao plantations were in the Yucatan, to where the Maya had migrated from central America, and the name Cacao appears to have come from their word for 'tree' - cacahuaquchtl. Both the Maya and the Aztecs had a drink known as xocatl, using cocoa and various spices, including chili, and as such, chocolate made its way from South America to Europe, when the Spanish adventurer, Hernan Cortes, was introduced to the drink in 1519. Although the Spanish were convinced of its worth, English pirates burnt a shipload of cocoa beans towards the end of the 16th century, thinking them to be sheep droppings, but cocoa finally reached England around 1697, and was first manufactured in the USA - coincidentally near Dorchester, Massachusetts - in 1765.

HOUSE OF DORCHESTER HISTORY

The House of Dorchester was founded in 1963, by Richard Ungaretti and his wife Christina. Having spent a lifetime career as a Master Baker and Patissier, Richard decided to sell his business, take early retirement and move to the Dorchester area where Christina had lived as a girl. However, retirement didn't really suit them and so they decided to open a confectionery shop in Dorchester. Unable to find chocolates of the quality that he wanted to sell, Mr Ungaretti started to make his own on the premises. He trained a local lady in the art of hand-tempering and fork-dipping and she sat in the window making chocolates, to the delight of passers-by. Demand grew, as the shop achieved fame in the Dorset area and so Mr Ungaretti started training more ladies to produce an ever increasing range of mouth-watering chocolates, whilst Christina ran the shop, creating lavish window-displays, bringing customers in from miles around.

A few years later, Martyn Spice - then in his early twenties - was building a small Hampshire business known as Personalized Products, which specialised in selling personalised chocolate bars, made by a contractor, to hotels. One particular week, in 1968, he was trying to sell chocolates to customers in London and the Cotswolds, both of whom told him they were buying "the very best chocolates from a gentleman in the West Country" - so Martyn decided to go and see him - and so he came to meet Mr Ungaretti.

Martyn started buying everything he could from Mr Ungaretti and within two years, the businesses had completely merged. The shop - The Dorset Maid - expanded production and in 1975 a small factory was created, by knocking two cottages together, and Dorchester Chocolates came into being. Sales to hotels and stately homes were booming, together with supplies to independent retailers and stores.

Up until 1995, a high percentage of production was ""own-label"" - bearing the customer's name, rather than our own - and we are especially proud to be able to produce annual commemorative chocolate presentations for Buckingham Palace, particularly for the Golden Jubilee. It was around this period, however, that it was decided to produce our own "brand" of chocolates, under the new name of The House of Dorchester, which coincided with the news that HRH The Prince of Wales' Duchy of Cornwall was planning the new village of Poundbury, just outside Dorchester. An acre of land was bought from the Duchy in 1997 and work commenced on the purpose-built 20,000 sq. ft. factory. This was opened by HRH The Prince of Wales in July 1998, since when the original five branded lines has increased nearly twenty-fold.

We are continually endeavouring to produce exciting chocolate and packaging bearing House of Dorchester’s brand name, whilst maintaining our original concept of personalising delicious chocolate for anyone and everyone to enjoy.