Initially, a 10-day chocolate tour seemed too long, but towards the end it proved too short. Belgium is never short of food, it looks like. From waffles, French fries, beer, cheese, and of course, to chocolate in Grand Place and Grand Sablon, I was kept busy all day.
There are three types of chocolate producers — homemade, premium and industrial. The homemade chocolate producers operate a single or very few stores in the city and make their chocolates by hand, usually at or close to the store. The premium chocolate producers are the face of Belgian chocolates around the world and operate their own chain of retail stores, both nationally and internationally, and produce handmade chocolates as well as machine-made ones. Industrial producers operate factories to produce large quantities of chocolates, mainly bars and tablets using advanced, automated processes, while homemade and premium chocolate producers differentiate themselves by focusing on pralines.
Homemade pralines have a big advantage: it is able to hit the shelves within a few hours of production and as a result, is fresh. On the other hand, premium pralines are usually replenished once every week, and both have a shelf life of four-six weeks (depending on the filling). Industrial chocolates have a shelf life of up to 12 months.
In Belgium, when you ask for chocolates you are almost always understood to be asking for pralines. A praline is a soft-centred filling inside a hard chocolate shell and is the “jewel in the crown” offering of most chocolatiers. Pralines are served in a ballotin (a special decorative box). Customers can choose from various options, which have different fillings, flavours and toppings; the combination is prepared on the spot. Good quality chocolates here are enjoyed by placing one on your tongue and letting the heat of your tongue melt it in your mouth before you can swirl it around, not by biting into a piece as universally accepted.
Today, chocolatiers in Belgium have gotten innovative with praline fillings. Although traditional favourites such as caramel and hazelnut cream remain best sellers, flowers, fruits, spices, coffee, tea and even savoury fillings such as chilli peppers, cheese, tomato-basil and wasabi find a place. Pralines are not just about the filling; the chocolate shell is made from beans of a single origin, and a combination of rare origins adds to the specific flavour notes of the chocolate. To bring out the original notes from the beans, chocolatiers offer single origin dark tablets or bars that range from 70 per cent to 100 per cent dark.
While the chocolate-making process itself has not changed much over the years, there have been technological advancements at each stage to increase efficiency and productivity. A ripe cocoa pod grown in tropical conditions is first harvested and the seeds covered with white pulp are removed.
The seeds with the pulp are left to ferment for a few days and then the beans are naturally sun-dried and transported to Belgium. The thin, crispy covering on the beans is removed by roasting and then ground to get the desired consistency. Other ingredients such as sugar and natural flavours are mixed to this paste and it undergoes what is called conching. In this process, the chocolate paste is kept in a liquid state by frictional heat and the resultant chocolate is smooth. This is then shaped into a block, button or drop and sent to chocolatiers. The chocolatier tempers (heating the chocolate and then cooling it) the chocolate and makes it workable. The liquid chocolate is then poured into moulds and the filling is added before solidifying it again to create the praline. Belgium is a unique mix of old traditions and a fondness for new technology when it comes to producing high quality chocolates. In spite of strict EU regulations that allow chocolate production by substituting cocoa butter with up to five per cent vegetable fats, all good chocolatiers in Belgium still only use 100 per cent cocoa butter in their chocolates. Cocoa butter is one of the most expensive components in chocolates but Belgian chocolatiers consider adding vegetable fats tantamount to loss of quality. This approach differentiates Belgian chocolates from others.
One last thing that surprised me about Belgium? The chocolates are made using beet sugar and not ordinary cane sugar. It’s a Belgian secret.
(L. Nitin Chordia is a Chennai-based retail professional and writes about food, fashion, retail, technology, and automobiles. Reach him at nitin.chordia@gmail.com.)
