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Papua New GuineaFlavors · Belgium
Chocolate bars and Belgium’s chocolate-making tradition, regulated by law since 1894. The country does not grow cocoa, but it has been turning the bean into chocolate for almost two centuries, with brands such as Côte d'Or (1883) and Callebaut of Wieze, whose couverture supplies chocolatiers around the world.
Traditional sweet from Belgium
Also known as: Belgische chocolade, Belgian chocolate, chocolate belga
Illustrative images. The pictures in this guide are illustrations based on the real place, not photographs, and may differ from it.
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Chocolat belge — Belgium
In Belgium, chocolate is part of everyday life. It’s in supermarket bars, neighborhood chocolateries, the spread on breakfast bread, and the boxes taken as gifts. This entry deals with chocolate bars and the country’s chocolate-making tradition; the praline, the filled chocolate bonbon associated with Brussels, has its own page.
Cocoa does not grow in Belgium: it comes from tropical countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. The industry began in the 19th century. Brussels’ inventory of intangible cultural heritage records that the city’s first steam engine, in 1835, moved chocolate production from workshop to factory, and that the first chocolate factory in the country was opened in Antwerp in 1845 by Adolphe Meurisse. The same inventory records that, at one time, some cocoa came from the Congo, then a Belgian colony, but production there remained limited. The name of one of the oldest brands recalls another origin: Côte d'Or means the Gold Coast, the colonial name of present-day Ghana, from where some beans came.
The country has regulated chocolate for a long time. A royal decree of November 18, 1894 began requiring a minimum of 35% cocoa for a product to be sold under that name, to combat fraud. When the European Union allowed up to 5% of cocoa butter to be replaced with other vegetable fats, Belgium opposed it, and the sector remained faithful to recipes using only cocoa butter, according to the same record. Since 2007, the industry association Choprabisco has maintained the Belgian Chocolate Code: the expression Belgian chocolate should be reserved for chocolate mixed, refined and conched in the country.
Some brands help tell that story. Côte d'Or was registered in Brussels in 1883 by chocolatier Charles Neuhaus, and the elephant that identifies it has appeared since 1906; the federal government portal Focus on Belgium calls it Belgians’ favorite chocolate. In Wieze, in East Flanders, Octaaf Callebaut began making bars in 1911 on a family property that had been a brewery, and soon started producing couverture chocolate for chocolatiers. The Wieze factory is cited as the largest chocolate factory in the world, and the port of Antwerp is among Europe’s main cocoa ports.
Couverture chocolate, richer in cocoa butter, is the basis of artisanal work: chocolatiers buy this ready chocolate and melt it to mold bars, bonbons and figures, while others roast their own beans. Many chocolateries make house bars from different origins and cocoa percentages, and some restaurants serve small squares of chocolate with coffee.
Chocolate also accompanies travel. According to Brussels’ inventory, it is the preferred gift for private visits, business and diplomatic occasions, and Brussels Airport records the highest volume of chocolate sales among airports in the world. At festive dates, shops fill with chocolate in other forms: eggs and bunnies at Easter, Saint Nicholas figures in early December, hearts on Valentine’s Day.
Belgium
Chocolate bars and the chocolate-making tradition are part of the identity of the whole country; factories, brands and chocolateries are spread across Brussels, Flanders and Wallonia.
Cocoa mass and cocoa butter, sugar, and in milk chocolate, milk; white chocolate contains cocoa butter, sugar and milk. Many bars include hazelnuts, almonds, nougat or praline filling.
In small squares, plain or with coffee; melted in homemade desserts; as a spread on breakfast or snack bread. Bars and boxes are taken as gifts or travel souvenirs.
All year round, in daily life and as a gift. At Easter, on Saint Nicholas Day (December 6), and on Valentine’s Day, it appears as eggs, figures and hearts.
Your questions
Tradition and rules. A royal decree of 1894 set a minimum cocoa content for a product to be called chocolate, and the Belgian sector has remained faithful to recipes using only cocoa butter, without other vegetable fats. The country also has a long industrial and artisanal tradition, with couverture factories that supply chocolatiers worldwide.
Under the Belgian Chocolate Code, created in 2007 by the industry association Choprabisco, the expression should be used for chocolate mixed, refined and conched in Belgium. The code is voluntary: it is not a protected legal designation.
No. Cocoa only grows in tropical countries, and Belgium imports beans from Africa, Latin America, Asia and Oceania. At one time some came from the Congo, then a Belgian colony, but production there remained limited. What is done in the country is the transformation of the bean into chocolate.
It is a chocolate richer in cocoa butter that melts easily and is used by chocolatiers to mold and coat bars, bonbons and figures. Belgium is a large producer of couverture, especially in Wieze, where Callebaut began making chocolate in 1911.
Flavors of Belgium
Thick sticks of potato twice-fried, traditionally in beef fat, and served in a paper cone with sauce. The culture of the friteries, the fritkots, is recognized as intangible heritage by the Flemish, French-speaking and German-speaking communities and by the Brussels-Capital Region.
Butter cookie with almond slices, or chocolate bonbon, shaped like a hand. It recalls the legend of the hero Brabo and the giant Antigoon, which explains the name Antwerpen, and has been a city specialty since 1934.
Round tartlet from Lier, in the province of Antwerp, with a crisp sugar-free pastry and a dark filling of breadcrumbs, cane sugar syrup and spices. The name is protected by a European geographical indication.
Beer of spontaneous fermentation, made from a blend of young and aged lambics, which ferments again in the bottle. The tradition comes from the Pajottenland and the Zenne valley in Flemish Brabant, and also from Brussels.
Savory pie from Nivelles, in Walloon Brabant, made with fermented fresh cheese, chard, eggs and plenty of butter, served very hot. A local brotherhood evaluates producers and awards quality seals every year.
Rectangular waffle, light and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, served dusted with confectioners' sugar. It is the first specialty presented by Brussels official tourism and appears in Flemish paintings related to celebrations.
Chocolate bonbon with a soft filling, such as ganache, praliné or cream. According to the inventory of intangible heritage of Brussels, the first modern praline was created in 1912 by Jean Neuhaus Jr. in the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert; the protective box, the ballotin, appeared three years later.
Very hard cookie, made only of honey and wheat flour, pressed in wooden molds carved with animals, figures and views of the city. A tradition of Dinant, in the Meuse valley, it should be softened in the mouth, not bitten.
Mixed-fermentation beer, mildly acidic, matured in large upright oak barrels called foeders. The European Union protects the name as a geographical indication, with production in parts of West Flanders.
Little tart of puff pastry filled with matten, the curd of raw cow’s milk, eggs and sugar. It is made in Geraardsbergen and Lierde, in the province of East Flanders, and has a protected geographical indication by the European Union.
Creamy stew from Ghent, with a broth thickened by cream, vegetables like carrot, leek and celery, potato and chicken. The earliest versions were made with river fish, and fish still appears in some of the city’s kitchens.
Cooked fish, served cold in a vinegar jelly with onion, traditionally in a stoneware jar. It has a European geographical indication, produced in Chimay and in neighboring municipalities of the provinces of Hainaut and Namur.
Cereal spirit flavored with juniper and herbs, milder and sweeter than other jenever. It has a European geographical indication: it must be distilled in Hasselt, Zonhoven or Diepenbeek. The city maintains a museum of the drink in a former distillery.
Dense waffle, made from a brioche-like dough with pieces of pearl sugar that caramelize on the griddle. Rounded and without corners, it is eaten hot and without toppings. According to tradition, it was created in Liège in the 18th century.
Open tart of creamy rice pudding on a thin crust, typical of Verviers in the province of Liège. Eaten warm or cold, at any time of day, often with coffee.
Round tart of thin fermented pastry dough with a generous filling of fruit, rice pudding or cream. It is made in Belgian Limburg and Dutch Limburg, and the name is protected by a European geographical indication.
Croquette with creamy sauce and North Sea grey shrimp, breaded and fried, served with fried parsley and lemon. The Ostend version is recognized as a Flemish regional product, with rules about the shrimp’s origin and the filling.
Rabbit slowly cooked with onion, black plum and raisins, served with potato. It is the dish of the Lundi perdu dinner, the Monday after Epiphany, a tradition of Tournai recognized as intangible heritage by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles.
