How a Korean War Food Surplus Brought Instant Hot Cocoa to the World

Navy veteran and engineer Charles Sanna didn't invent hot chocolate, but he changed the way Americans make it.

For centuries, hot drinking chocolate was a beverage of the world's elite aristocracies. Cocoa was expensive, and even as world trade in the commodity grew and made it cheaper for the masses, the process of actually making drinking chocolate was rather labor intensive. For most, it meant adding cocoa powder or chopped chocolate to heated milk and sugar -- and anyone who has attempted to boil milk can tell you it requires constant attention. Sanna's first step toward instant cocoa mix came in the 1950s, when he developed a means of extending the shelf life of dehydrated, powdered, sweetened whole milk coffee creamers. By reducing the amount of oxygen in the packets, the milk could now last for years. This caught the attention of Army leaders who wanted to use the product for field use.

Sanna's family company, Sanna Dairy Engineers, was contracted by the U.S. government to make powdered coffee creamer for American troops fighting in Korea. The contract stipulated a harsh penalty if they were undersupplied, so the company made an astounding surplus to ensure it met the requirements. In addition, none of the company's overstock could be used to fill future orders, compounding the surplus.