What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear “Switzerland”? Well, according to one of my favourite movies “Where the dreams may come” ― “Keep going that way, until you smell money or you step in chocolate”. Exactly! When I think of Switzerland, I think of its finest chocolate.
I was lucky enough to get invited to the Ragusa Chocolate Event, held in Berlin and get to know a lot about it. I also had a chance to interview the owner of Ragusa, Daniel Bloch. Did you know, by the way, that women in Quebec can live longer without a man than without chocolate? Well, it is so indeed.
The Swiss chocolate with character
RAGUSA Chocolate Event was all about the celebration of chocolate art. If you don’t live in Europe you may have never heard of Ragusa. But you’ve definitely heard of Swiss chocolate. Ragusa is a traditional family business headquartered in Courtelary in the Bernese Jura. It was founded by Camille Bloch in Bern in 1929. Today Daniel Bloch directs the fortunes of the Swiss chocolate maker in the third generation. He keeps the tradition alive and creates new taste experiences in the spirit of the company’s unconventional bent. Isn’t it amazing? I’ve always been fascinated by history and tradition bound together. And what can be better than chocolate anyway?
“What you see before you, my friend is the result of a lifetime of chocolate.” ― Katharine Hepburn
Apart from making my very first chocolate, I had a chance to talk with Daniel Bloch and get to know something new about the chocolate-making process itself. I really enjoyed it as you can really get to see the raw material and experience the process that goes into making the chocolate.
There were plenty of opportunities to taste not only all kinds of chocolate on your way around, but to learn the difference between milk, dark and blond chocolate. Yes, Ragusa was the first company in the world who invented not white but blond chocolate. It has its special unique taste and definitely worth trying.
Overall it was a treat that overwhelmed my appetite for chocolate for sure. There was something for everyone, even for the most discerning chocolate connoisseur. All I can say, I couldn’t imagine my life without a good blond bar of chocolate from Ragusa anymore!
