The Secret of the Belgian Chocolate

The Belgian chocolate is known in the whole world. The Belgian chocolate is a model for quality chocolate all over the world. An important reason is the tradition of strong fabrication rules. Most of the recipes contain 100% cacao butter and also the creating of a special label"ambao" makes it possible to protect this quality.

In fact the Belgian Chocolate is part of the Belgian people's identity. In the past most of the Belgian people had an emotional relationship with "Côte d'Or" and his little elephant, called to a shop created by Charles Neuhaus in 1883 in Brussels.
Regrettable that great companies like Callebaut are taken over by multinationals with a worldwide turnover. Fortunately there are still enough companies like Leonidas, Jacques, Corne love to honor the extraordinary quality of the Belgian Chocolate.

One of the best known Belgian chocolate specialties is "the praline", created in 1912 by Jean Neuhaus. There are a lot of varieties: pralines with whipping cream, marchpane, liqueur or praliné and also truffles. To protect them there is an adequate packaging patented under the name of Ballotin.
The" ballotin de pralines" became the perfect gift and appreciated worldwide. Other popular varieties of the Belgian chocolate are the Chocomousse and the Chocolate Cake.

There are 2 important chocolate museums to find in Belgium:
- The Museum of Cocoa and Chocolate in Brussels (In the Museum the different phases in the production process are explained and also the hand-made "praline".
- Choco-story in Bruges (You can tour the history of choolate and process of chocolate making).

Also Belgian chocolate is today manufactured by hand. That is the reason why people call it an art.
You can find the Belgian chocolate in many countries of the world. I was surprised to find this kind of chocolate during my travel in Shanghai (China), certainly a proof that the quality is known worldwide.