From cocoa to pralines

From cocoa bean to cocoa mass

Once the cocoa beans arrive in Europe, they are then blended by cocoa blenders, according to a specific recipe designed to achieve a particular flavour. The process involves cleaning the beans and cracking and removing the shells so that only the core of the cocoa beans remains. These are then roasted, producing the typical, enticing cocoa aroma. Next the cocoa blenders grind the pieces into a liquid cocoa mass, the key ingredient of chocolate.

From cocoa mass to chocolate

Our chocolate suppliers crush the chocolate into fine granules with rollers to give the chocolate its creamy, smooth texture and homogeneous flavour. Several rounds of processing following Pralibel's exclusive chocolate recipes yield a divine result: a chocolate which does not immediately melt in your mouth, but still has a velvety consistency, because of the smooth and creamy texture.

Liquid chocolate takes shape

Next comes tempering, the process by which the liquid chocolate, which is now quite hot, is rapidly cooled to make it suitable for pralines. Tempering leads to formation of certain types of crystals in the cocoa butter, in addition to making the chocolate hard and shiny. Next, the chocolate is poured into moulds. As the chocolate hardens, it also contracts a bit, so it is easy to remove from the moulds. After the meticulous hand-finishing, the pralines are ready for packaging.

Each and every day, our chocolatiers oversee the Pralibel tempering process, to ensure it is carried out correctly. Because only the pralines with just the right lustre are deemed worthy of our name. What a treat! 

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