Chocolate Country

Chocolate Country

Years ago, visitors to Brussels, stepping out of the Midi train station, would be greeted by the sight of the Côte D'Or chocolate factory. The plumes of smoke rising from its stacks would scent the air with a seductive aroma of freshly made chocolate -- a tempting olfactory calling card that advertised Belgium's unrivaled expertise in chocolate making.

Though the Côte D'Or factory closed in the late 1970s, you won't lack for reminders of one of the country's signature industries. With nearly 500 large- and small-scale chocolatiers vying for a place at the top, Belgian chocolate making is a prodigious and cutthroat business. The domestic market alone is formidable; Belgium has one of the world's highest chocolate consumption rates, at an average of more than 15 pounds per person per year.

The country's reputation for high quality rests on choice raw materials and meticulous production practices. Belgian companies go after the rare criollo cocoa beans and the trinitario variety (a cross between criollo and the hardier, less subtle forastero cocoa), both of which have complex, nonbitter flavors. The bean roasting and crushing is done with exceptional precision. The best producers conch their chocolate -- a refining process of mixing the chocolate with extra cocoa butter or other additions -- for days rather than a few hours, as standard manufacturers do. Extended conching creates a smooth, even texture and reduces acid levels, enhancing the chocolate taste.

You can get a full rundown on the production process at the Musée du Cacao et du Chocolat in Brussels. Of course, you should also indulge in a little self-education at some of the local chocolate shops as well.

Belgium's chief contribution to the history of chocolate making came in 1912, when Belgian chocolatier Jean Neuhaus created the first pralines, bite-size chocolates filled with a mixture of nuts and sugar. Billed as "individual masterpieces," these handcrafted delicacies proved an excellent way for chocolatiers to distinguish themselves. Neuhaus's "couverture" chocolate formed a shell that could hold all kinds of fillings: caramels, creams, flavored ganaches, and more. Creativity and ingenuity quickly became as key to success as the chocolate itself. Combining visual elegance with exquisite taste, the praline continues to undergo reinvention by chocolatiers. Classic examples such as gianduja (hazelnut) share display cases with newcomers flavored with ginger, tea, or herbs. Many chocolatiers make seasonal or special-event pralines; and some chocolatiers, such as Pierre Marcolini, are increasingly emphasizing the origins of the cocoa beans, offering chocolates made from beans from a single location, such as Venezuela or Ghana.

So seriously does Belgium take its reputation as a chocolate producer that in 2000 its Ministry of Economic Affairs created a mark of quality assurance, AMBAO (which means "cocoa" in Swahili). The formation of AMBAO was a quick response to the EU decision earlier that year that ruled that up to 5% of the cocoa butter in chocolate could be replaced by other vegetable fats and the result could still be called chocolate. To industrial manufacturers this was a windfall, as other vegetable fats are much cheaper than cocoa butter. To chocolate purists, however, the resolution was a scandal. Members of the AMBAO association, ranging from large international companies to small artisanal producers, use only 100% cocoa butter in their chocolate, and uphold higher overall quality levels than those dictated by the EU bureaucrats. Members of AMBAO range.

-Olivia Mollet