The first solid chocolate bar was produced in 1847 in England (till then, chocolate was consumed as a drink).
Then in 1875, the first milk chocolate was produced in Switzerland by mixing milk powder with cocoa.
Belgium, who was intrigued by these inventions, had access to some of the best cacao plantations from Africa in the 1880s because a good part of Congo (in Africa) was privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium.
High-quality cocoa, along with the Belgian-invention of the machine that could grind the cocoa beans extremely thin, gave the country some leverage in the chocolate world in the late 1800s.
These low-quality fats are unhealthy, less-chocolaty, have low melting points, and require extra sugar to compensate for the lack of flavor of vegetable fat or oils.
The 1894 law also mandated that for a chocolate to be called Belgian, it must be refined (finely to 18 microns) and mixed in Belgium.
In 1898-1903, the import tax on cacao & consumption tax on sugar was reduced significantly, making chocolate affordable to the middle-class consumers.
However, Belgium got worldwide recognition in 1912, when Jean Neuhaus invented PralineFor the first time the chocolate could be filled with a variety of flavored nougats or creams, such as coffee, hazelnut, fruit, or even more chocolate., a hard chocolate shell with soft or liquid filling inside.
Then in 1915, Neuhaus also introduced the “ballotin”, a carton praline box, to protect pralines from being damaged and to enhance the “gift” aspect of the buying of chocolate.
The real turning point came with the discovery, by Octaaf Callebaut, of a method to produce, store and transport couverture chocolate (an intermediary product that is used to make chocolate) in liquid form.
This new technique eliminated the refrigeration and reheating processes that chocolate makers had to do at their end, thereby, reducing their production costs.
This also meant that chocolatiers could now focus on their core business – Pralines – while procuring couverture chocolate directly from Callebaut.
This & the culture of chocolate making has made Belgium the 2nd biggest exporter of chocolates in the world, after Germany, which has a population and GDP 7 times that of Belgium.
Even today, the vast majority of Belgian chocolate is made by hand in around 15 chocolate factories and more than 2,000 chocolate shops, using very basic equipment.
However, the supremacy of Belgian chocolates is weakening because of mass imitation and Belgian chocolate companies being taken over by international investors.
All things highlighted in bold explain how & why Belgian chocolates are considered special.
