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Introduction to Belgian Chocolate and Beer
Belgium is world-renowned for its artisanal chocolates and beers. Belgian chocolatiers and brewmasters have honed their craft over centuries, blending technical mastery with creative flair. This results in an astonishing range of high-quality chocolates and beers to suit every palate.
Over 400 Belgian chocolatiers produce delicious pralines, truffles, bars, and other treats using time-honored techniques. Meanwhile, Belgium boasts over 400 breweries crafting ales and lagers ranging from the sourest lambics to the most velvety abbey ales.
Yet there is an artistry behind chocolate and beer that transcends mere taste. For Belgians, they represent key aspects of culture and heritage. Visiting Belgium allows you to sample both in all their glorious diversity while appreciating the passion of those who make them.
The History of Belgian Chocolate
While the Mayans and Aztecs first consumed chocolate as a bitter drink, solid chocolate bars first emerged in the mid-19th century. Belgium was perfectly poised to become a chocolate pioneer. It had easy access to imported cacao beans from its African colonies. Belgian entrepreneurs began opening chocolate shops leveraging this steady supply.
By the late 1800s, these shops gained renown for chocolate innovations. Jean Neuhaus invented the praline in 1912 by filling hollow chocolate shells with delicious fillings. Leonidas created filled chocolate bars coated in quality couverture chocolate. Godiva refined techniques for silky smooth texture.
Today, brands like Godiva, Neuhaus, Leonidas, and Guylian enjoy global fame. While techniques have modernized, Belgium’s 150 chocolate shops still produce artisanal chocolates true to tradition. Many are family-run, focusing more on quality than mass production.
Popular Belgian Chocolate Brands
Godiva is perhaps Belgium’s most recognized chocolate brand. With nearly 100 years of history, it epitomizes Belgian chocolate excellence. Their Gold Collection features pralines with diverse fillings enrobed in a signature smooth chocolate. Meanwhile, the G Cube is a silky dark chocolate cube filled with ganache and caramel.
Established in 1857, Neuhaus takes credit for inventing the Belgian praline. Their praline varieties include the Caprice with smooth chocolate ganache or the Tentation with a hazelnut gianduja filling. For something simpler, try their Dragees – chocolate covered hazelnuts and almonds.
Leonidas focuses on chocolate bars made with Quality couverture chocolate. Popular options are their intense dark chocolate bars with 74% or even 99% cacao. For added decadence, bars like Disco Fever incorporate specs of real gold leaf.
Guylian is renowned for its seahorse shaped chocolates. Their spread of bars, pralines, and truffles also highlight quality Belgian chocolate. The Manon Cafe Praline has a caffe latte center dusted in cocoa powder.
The Chocolate Making Process
Making chocolate is a delicate multi-step process. Belgian chocolatiers start by selecting the highest grade cacao beans. Roasting enhances the beans’ flavor profiles from nutty to caramelized. The beans are then winnowed and ground into a liquid chocolate liquor.
Specific proportions of ingredients like cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder, and vanilla are then mixed in to make dark, milk or white chocolate. The art is carefully tempering the chocolate – raising and lowering the temperature to stabilize the crystals. Properly tempered chocolate has that nice sheen and satisfying “snap” when bitten.
The chocolate can then be molded into bars, pralines, truffles and more. Inclusions like nuts, caramel, fruit, and cream add tasty textural contrasts. For filled chocolates, the top and bottom shells must align perfectly around the decadent filling inside.
Types of Belgian Chocolate
One of Belgium’s claims to chocolate fame is elevating the humble chocolate bar. Belgian dark chocolate ranges from 70% to 99% cacao, appealing to different levels of cocoa intensity. Milk chocolate like Callebaut adds creamy sweetness around 35% cacao. White chocolate omits the cacao solids for pure cocoa butter flavor.
But pralines define Belgian chocolate creativity. By combining couverture chocolate shells with diverse fillings, they deliver flavor explosions in each bite. Classic praline fillings include silky ganache, caramel, various liqueurs, nuts, and even speculoos cookie spread.
Fudgy truffles rolled in cocoa powder or sprinkles also showcase quality Belgian chocolate. More unique are manons – irregularly shaped chocolates with decorative stripes. You can find hundreds of chocolate varieties reflecting Belgium’s collective chocolate know-how.
Where to Taste Belgian Chocolate
In Brussels, stop by Mary for artisanal pralines like raspberry rose or salted butter caramel. Dandoy sells traditional Belgian speculoos cookies smothered in chocolate. La Maison du Chocolat whips up chocolate delicacies on-site.
Bruges offers cozy chocolate shops dotted amongst medieval buildings. Local favorite The Chocolate Line features unique flavors like lemongrass-basil dark chocolate. For toys kids and kids-at-heart, Choco Story’s museum ends at a gigantic gift shop.
Ghent’s main square alone houses several chocolate boutiques. Monique Jacobs prepares colorful pralines with fillings like passionfruit and pink champagne. Chocolaterie Luc Van Hoorebeke specializes in chocolate sculptures.
In Antwerp, Elisee showcases one-of-a-kind bonbons and patisserie. At Daskalidès, watch the chocolatiers crafting new treats through the store window. Antwerp even has a Chocolate Nation museum exploring chocolate’s rich history.
The History of Belgian Beer
Belgium’s beer legacy traces back to Roman times but its fame rests on Trappist brewing. Trappist monks have brewed “liquid bread” to support their abbeys since the 1300s. Their brewing secrets produced Belgium’s iconic abbey ales.
By the 1800s, Belgium attained global renown for lagers like Stella Artois. However, small regional breweries crafted unique ales that came to define Belgian beer. These include fruity and tart lambics around Brussels and golden saisons around Wallonia.
Outsiders may think Belgian beer is just abbey ales and lambics. But with over 180 beer styles, there are flavors to entice any palate. Brewmasters weave in spices, barrel-aging, wild yeasts, fruit macerations, and other techniques to create an unparalleled diversity of beer.
Popular Belgian Beer Styles
No discussion of Belgian beer omits the Trappist ales. Chimay, Westvleteren, and Rochefort are widely revered for their complexity. These abbey ales feature deep fruity flavors aided by refermentation inside the bottle.
Then there are the lambics from breweries like Cantillon and Lindemans. Ranging from dry to sweet, these sour ales get their wild character from airborne yeasts around Brussels. Kriek lambics add whole cherries for a tart fruitiness.
Crisp and citrusy witbiers like Hoegaarden offer lighter Belgian refreshment. Flavors like coriander and orange peel provide zesty accents. Those seeking more potency can try Belgian strong ales like Delirium Tremens.
New Belgian styles continue emerging like the fruity and spicy saisons. And limited edition brews keep beer exploration exciting. Trying them all would take a lifetime in itself!
The Beer Making Process
Like chocolate, brewinggood beer involves both science and artistry. First, maltsters germinate grain like barley and rye to release sugars. The malted grains then steep in hot water in the mash tun to extract sugars and flavors. Spent grains are filtered out and the sugary liquid or wort starts boiling.
Hops are added at various stages to impart bitterness, aroma, and flavor. The wort’s long boil concentrates its flavors. After cooling, yeast is pitched into the wort to ferment the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide.
Most ales undergo a second fermentation where yeast continue working to create complex flavors and carbonation. Some beers are also barrel-aged or steeped with fruit to pick up tannins, wood notes, or fruity flavors. The multifaceted process yields beers unimaginable centuries ago.
Where to Taste Belgian Beer
No trip to Belgium misses drinking in Brussels. Historic pubs like Delirium Cafe stock over 2000 beers. Cantillon Brewery offers brewery tours and lambic tastings. Moeder Lambic serves an exclusive list of craft ales.
In medieval Bruges, De Garre offers brewery fresh Belgian triples alongside mussels and frites. ‘t Brugs Beertje stocks over 300 Belgian brews, pairing nicely with their pub fare. Take a brewery tour at De Halve Maan to see beer history in action.
Ghent showcases her brewing heritage at Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant, a canal-side pub with local beers on tap. Grab a pint at one of Dok Brewing Company’s tap houses, located right at their brewery.
Buzzing Antwerp delivers quintessential beer cafes. ‘t Antwaerps Bierhuyske channels old-world charm while Kulminator stocks vintage rarities like aged Westvleteren. Or drink at the source at De Koninck and Seef breweries.
Pairing Belgian Chocolate and Beer
Belgium’s two great gastronomic gifts pair deliciously together. The key is matching intensities, flavors, and textures. Robust dark beers suit intensely dark chocolates. Fruit-tinged lambics work with fruit-filled pralines. Creamy white chocolate complements light witbiers.
A classic pairing is the chocolate-covered cherry: a kriek lambic alongside a chocolate with a liquid cherry center. The sweet and tart play off each other beautifully. Or match a chocolate infused with coffee, coriander, or orange with a stout, witbier or abbey ale featuring those flavors.
More counterintuitive matches like white chocolate and witbier also hit the spot. The wheaty, citrusy beer cuts white chocolate richness perfectly. With so many possible combinations, Belgians barely scratched the surface when they thought of pairing their two signature foods.
Conclusion
Belgium’s mastery of chocolate and beer represents culinary art forms refined over generations. Local artisans select only the finest ingredients to craft chocolates and brews celebrated globally. To fully appreciate them requires tasting their dazzling diversity of flavors while in Belgium.
Beyond sublime taste, they exemplify Belgium’s living heritage and culture. The care chocolate shops and breweries put into their work shines through in each product. That interplay of technical precision, creativity, and passion makes Belgian chocolate and beer stand in a league of their own.
FAQs
What makes Belgian chocolate unique?
Belgian chocolate is prized for its smooth texture, diverse flavors, and artisanal production. Master chocolatiers use only the highest quality ingredients. The chocolate itself melts decadently thanks to perfecting techniques like tempering. Filled chocolates highlight creative fillings like pralines. Attention to detail at every step yields chocolate far superior to industrial confections.
What are the main beer styles from Belgium?
Abbey ales, lambics, witbiers, and strong ales are Belgian classics. But Belgium offers incredible beer diversity – saisons, Flemish reds, tripels, dubbels, and more. Many defy categorization, incorporating spices, fruit, barrel-aging, and added fermentation. New styles continue to emerge from innovative brewers.
Where can I take a chocolate/beer tour in Belgium?
Most major cities like Brussels, Bruges, Antwerp, and Ghent offer chocolate and beer tours. These guided excursions let you experience Belgian chocolate and beer hands-on at factories, museums, specialized pubs, and shops. Many tours can be customized based on your interests and often include tastings of both chocolate and beer.
Which chocolate/beer pairing do you recommend for beginners?
Try a lambic fruit beer like kriek or framboise paired with a milk chocolate truffle incorporating those fruits. The chocolate provides gentle sweetness counterbalancing the beer’s tartness. The matching fruit flavors connect the two components beautifully. It’s an easy, foolproof introduction to the joy of Belgian chocolate and beer.
What is the best time of year to visit Belgium for chocolate and beer?
While delicious all year round, Belgium’s chocolate and beer culture shines brightest in the colder months. Belgium hosts many beer and chocolate festivals in late fall through winter. Breweries release special seasonal ales around this time. And nothing brings comfort like rich Belgian hot chocolate after braving the chilly weather.