The first solid chocolate bar was produced in 1847 in England (till then, chocolate was consumed as a drink).<\/li>\n

Then in 1875, the first milk chocolate was produced in Switzerland by mixing milk powder with cocoa.<\/li>\n

Belgium, who was intrigued by these inventions, had access to some of the best cacao plantations from Africa<\/b> in the 1880s because a good part of Congo (in Africa) was privately owned by King Leopold II of Belgium.<\/li>\n

High-quality cocoa<\/strong>, along with the Belgian-<\/strong>invention<\/b> of the machine that could grind the cocoa beans extremely thin, gave the country some leverage in the chocolate world in the late 1800s.<\/li>\n

<\/b>Then in 1894, a law was imposed in Belgium that mandated the use of at least 35% cocoa<\/b> in all Belgian chocolates to prevent the usage of low-quality fat sources such as palm oil (a typical Cadbury milk chocolate in Europe has about 20% cocoa)<\/a>.<\/li>\n

<\/b>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.<\/li>\n

<\/b>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<\/b>.<\/li>\n

<\/b>In 1898-1903, the import tax on cacao & consumption tax on sugar was reduced significantly, making chocolate affordable to the middle-class consumers.<\/li>\n

<\/b>However, Belgium got worldwide recognition in 1912, when Jean Neuhaus invented {tooltip}Praline<\/b>{end-text}For 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.{end-tooltip}, a hard chocolate shell with soft or liquid filling inside.<\/li>\n

<\/b>Then in 1915, Neuhaus also introduced the \u201cballotin\u201d<\/b>, a carton praline box, to protect pralines from being damaged and to enhance the \u201cgift\u201d aspect of the buying of chocolate.<\/li>\n

The real turning point came with the discovery, by Octaaf Callebaut, of a method to produce, store and transport couverture chocolate<\/i><\/strong> (an intermediary product that is used to make chocolate) in liquid form.<\/li>\n

<\/b>This new technique eliminated the refrigeration and reheating processes that chocolate makers had to do at their end, thereby, reducing their production costs.<\/li>\n

<\/b>This also meant that chocolatiers could now focus on their core business – Pralines – while procuring couverture chocolate <\/i>directly from Callebaut.<\/li>\n

<\/b>This & the culture of chocolate making has made Belgium the 2nd biggest exporter<\/strong> of chocolates in the world, after Germany, which has a population and GDP 7 times that of Belgium.<\/li>\n

<\/b>Even today, the vast majority of Belgian chocolate is made by hand <\/b>in around 15 chocolate factories and more than 2,000 chocolate shops, using very basic equipment.<\/li>\n

<\/b>However, the supremacy of Belgian chocolates is weakening because of mass imitation and Belgian chocolate companies being taken over by international investors.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\nAll things highlighted in bold explain how & why Belgian chocolates are considered special.<\/em><\/h6>\n \r\n
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