Côte D’Or | Choqoa

“Belgian Chocolate”, what is it anyway? I would like to start a few posts on this to many a magic and indulgent combination of words.
Sure our country has a bespoken heritage and history when it comes to chocolate, but why really is Belgian Style different from other countries? I think there are 2 things that need some explanation: what is that Belgian heritage about and what should the word ‘chocolate’ cover. Already the word “chocolates” leads to a lot of confusion. Chocolates, chocolate, confections and pralines are really not the same, though in English I feel these subtle differences aren’t always put clear. But let’s keep that for later and focus on Belgium.

How Belgium became ‘Chocolatic’

The Spanish not only brought cacao beans from the Americas to our continent, but were also responsible for the spreading through all of their conquered regions too. The first traces of cocoa were found in Ghent in 1635 in the Baudeloo abbey, only many years after Belgium was annexed with the Spanish imperium.

The strange link between Belgium, a small country for way from the equatorial cacao belt, and chocolate is not one to be too proud of at first from a historical point of view. The Belgian chocolate industry took off during the mid 1880’s, when the grasping king Leopold II of Belgium colonized Congo, a territory eighty-six times bigger than Belgium itself.
With the blood spilling colonization and despite the warfare, Belgium entrepreneurship got itself an easy way in to Africa’s cocoa grounds and were able to maintain the cocoa importing connections. With a steady and stable import of raw cacao, local business had the opportunity to find creative and innovative ways to develop chocolate products and businesses.

From the beginning of its introduction in Belgium, chocolate was considered a perfect gift. Even before the colonization of Congo, a Belgian company Berwaerts, was the first one to sell chocolate as tablets, pastilles, and figurines since about1840. Also world famous Callebaut was founded in that era, in 1850 by Eugenius Callebaut as a brewery in Wieze, where the company still has its HQ. Other Belgian chocolate companies soon were created and chocolate lovers will recognize a few names amongst Meurisse, Callebaut, Neuhaus, Cote d’Or, Jaques, de Beukelaere, Victoria… all together with lots of small brands that have gone away.

With the 1958 World Expo in Brussels Côte D’Or tempted everyone’s taste buds through a big event, through which Belgium’s reputation in chocolate became even more known worldwide. Especially for the world fair, Cote d’Or launched a brand new product, “Dessert 58″. This was a praliné filled milk chocolate and it was a hit right from the start!

Before we further explore the worlds of “praliné”, chocolates and “pralines”, in a next post I will dive deeper in which contemporary brands are putting Belgium on the map, and how they do so.

From the Dusseldorf Collection, Hussel was a new German brand to look forward to tasting the first time. I had a “Bejofo Grand Cru de plantation de Madagascar” at 72%. Bejofo refers to the name of the plantation in the Sambirano valley in Madagascar, where Hussel cultivates Trinitario beans for this origin bars. Madagascar’s Sambirano region is known to offer exceptional cacao, with a light, but well elaborated flavor and tones of citrus and blackcurrants. Hussel also offers another range under the name Jara, which comes from their plantation in Los Rios, Ecuador.

The square shaped packaging comes with a lot of red in its design, classy golden lettering and has nice designed imagery in the background evoking the atmosphere of cacao plantations and tropical forests, quite similar to the packing illustrations from Domori. The bar also focusses on organic agriculture with a clear Bio label on the front.

Hussel has this bar conched for 72 hours. Conching is a kneading process that takes place as one of the last steps in manufacturing, to smooth out cacao and to enhance the flavor. The bitter taste of the cocoa slowly disappears and the chocolate flavors and aromas becomes fully developed. Conching is also important for making chocolate homogeneous. The first impressions of this Hussel Bejofo 72% reminded me much of some Pralus bars, like the Indonesia and Venezuela versions. From the first bite this cacao immediately takes you on a tasteful journey. The Bejofo 72% is very well tempered and has a pleasant mouth feel. The chuncks comfortably melt away and with every step release more of its aromas. A balanced curve with touches of acid, spices, definitely citrus and typical Madagascar orange tones, changing into blackcurrants, and with an ever sustaining woody palate, this bar offers a perfectly balanced experience.

I’ve had it tasted by friends too, and the Hussel is a very good bar to introduce people to the rich taste varieties of dark origin chocolate bars. They were all pleasantly surprised by this very new cacao tasting and made them talking about dark bars, percentages and origins. The Cote d’Or Sensations for example, that are widely available on the market here, are left far behind in tasting experience. The sweetness achieved by the added cane sugar definitely helps to appreciate dark origin cacao on a new level, without diving into a lot of bitter discussions. Hussel, definitely a brand to keep an eye on!