Sinterklaas evening is chocolate evening
Do you have everything you need for the annual Sinterklaas celebration? Including the chocolate? This year, chocolate is very expensive due to crop failures, climate change, and more expensive processing and transport. Real chocolate countries are France, Switzerland, and Belgium, even on postage stamps. We are mainly talking about chocolate letters and chocolate sprinkles.
Chocolate more expensive
Chocolate has already become significantly more expensive over the past two years, with a rise of nearly 40 percent since early 2021. This price increase was primarily due to higher costs for dairy, sugar, and energy. However, the recent spike in cocoa prices has yet to be factored into the consumer price.
The price of cocoa keeps rising. The raw material for chocolate has even become more expensive than copper. That is bad news for the chocolate letters being made in the near future and possibly also for next year's Easter eggs.
The rise in the cocoa price is due, among other things, to the poor harvest in West Africa, where 70 percent of cocoa originates. Cocoa trees grow in humid areas around the equator. The five countries that currently grow the most cocoa are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Brazil. In these countries, the cocoa beans are harvested and dried. There have been significant temperature fluctuations and heavy rain showers over the past three years, which is detrimental to the cultivation of the raw material.
In addition, the cocoa farmers have been living in poverty for years. As a result, they are unable to invest in the plantations to better protect the cocoa trees against extreme weather.
France
Chocolate is a food product made from cocoa beans after fermentation and roasting. The cocoa tree is native to Central America and the tropical rainforests of the Amazon. Originally, the beans were used as currency; later, they were used for therapeutic purposes or during certain rituals. After the Spanish invasions, chocolate was imported to Europe by Hernán Cortés and introduced to the court of King Charles V at the Alhambra in Granada in the 16th century. France discovered chocolate in Bayonne thanks to the arrival of Jewish merchants who had been expelled from Spain by the Inquisition, and even more so in 1615, on the occasion of the marriage of the Spanish Infanta Anna of Austria to Louis XIII. Chocolate, subsequently consumed with milk, became a very popular drink at the court of the Palace of Versailles.
Chocolate remained the privilege of the wealthiest for a long time, except in the Bayonne region. The Industrial Revolution contributed to the popularization of chocolate, and in the early 19th century a real chocolate industry emerged (Suchard, Cadbury, Van Houten, etc.). Today, chocolate is consumed as a drink, often served in chocolate pots, in bars, in bite-sized pieces, and in many other forms. Currency, food of the gods, favorites of the courts of great kings, pleasure for today's children, chocolate has become a myth whose history is told on a block of 10 stamps treated in a hyperrealistic manner. The block will be infused with the scent of chocolate.
Switzerland
Swiss chocolate is chocolate manufactured in Switzerland. Together with the watchmaking and engineering industries, Swiss chocolate contributes to the good reputation that Swiss products enjoy abroad. Chocolate has been known in Europe since the 16th century. From the 18th century onwards, chocolate was produced in only a handful of small companies in the Swiss canton of Ticino and in the Bassin Lémanique, along Lake Geneva. In 1819, François-Louis Cailler (1796-1852) founded the Cailler company, which initially produced cocoa powder and chocolate. Shortly thereafter, he established the first Swiss chocolate factory, namely the Broc chocolate factory.
Belgium
Belgian chocolate has traditionally been the food of champions, a temptation for lovers, a luxury for the wealthy. Today, it is a favorite sweet treat for people all over the world. Belgium boasts a wide variety of top chocolate brands and some of the world's largest chocolate factories, such as Godiva, Leonidas, Côte d'Or, or Neuhaus. But Flanders offers sweet tooths more options than just buying chocolate: you can also visit chocolate museums, learn to make pralines yourself, or sample chocolate and beer pairings.
The Netherlands
Chocolate became known in the Netherlands when the Duke of Alva brought cocoa from Spain. Subsequently, coffee and chocolate houses emerged in the Netherlands. The chocolate drink served there was called seculatie. In 1660, signs hung in Amsterdam with the text “Here they serve seculatie”.
Dutch chocolate producers include, for example, Baronie – De Heer, A. Driessen, Droste, Verkade, Rademaker, Union Edel Chocolade, Van Houten, Venz, and Tony's Chocolonely. A Dutch brand that no longer exists is Tjoklat, the Malay word for chocolate. Union Edel Chocolade merged into Portion Pack Europe, which has consolidated all its operations in Herentals, Belgium. Some other well-known Dutch cocoa brands were Bensdorp (later acquired by the Belgian Barry Callebaut), Betke, Kwatta, Korff, Blooker, de Jong, Pette, and Ringers. At the beginning of the 20th century, the cocoa drink Fosco was very popular. Belgian pralines are also well-known and loved in the Netherlands, as well as Belgian chocolate from brands such as Côte d'Or.
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