Belgian Chocolate

Valentino Chocolatier brings you the fresh and authentic taste of Belgian chocolates directly to Orange County. You don't need a passport or expensive airline tickets to enjoy the same fresh chocolates found in Brussels! Valentino Chocolates are made in Belgium and imported here via air cargo to guarantee freshness.

Belgian chocolate is considered to be the gourmet standard by which all other chocolate confections are measured. Even the Swiss, known for their own high quality chocolate, imported the basic recipe from French and Belgian chocolatiers.

What makes Belgian chocolate unique is the quality of ingredients and an almost fanatical adherence to Old World manufacturing techniques. Belgian chocolates, also referred to as "Pralines", are notoriously the best in the world! One of the reasons is that the Belgium Government has set the highest standards in the world for chocolate quality and taste. Our dark chocolate contains 63% cocoa butter, our milk chocolate has 33% cocoa butter and the white chocolate has 28% cocoa butter. There are NO waxes or preservatives of any kind.

Belgian chocolate itself has been popular since the 18th century, but a new process created by Jean Neuhaus in 1912 increased its popularity ten-fold. Neuhaus used a special version of chocolate called "couverteur" as a cold shell for what he called 'pralines'. These pralines are not the same as the sugary treats offered in American candy shops. Belgian chocolate pralines could be filled with a variety of flavored nougats or creams, such as coffee, hazelnut, fruit or more chocolate. Few other chocolatiers in Neuhaus' day could duplicate the complex flavors of his pralines.

One technical advantage Belgian chocolate has over other chocolatiers is the storage of couverteur before use. In the chocolate making process, the cocoa beans are ground and mixed with sugar and cocoa butter and then smoothed out through tempering (careful addition of heat). Most chocolate companies receive their chocolate in solid form, which means it must be reheated in order to be usable. Belgian chocolate companies often receive their couverteur in heated tanker trucks soon after the tempering process. Because the chocolate has not cooled, it retains much more of the aroma than the cooled varieties.

Belgian chocolate may be pricier than other chocolate, but those who have sampled it say that there is no comparison between a standard chocolate bar and a Belgian praline. As a gift or special indulgence, Belgian chocolate is one product which lives up to its reputation for quality.