PRALINE ON PRESCRIPTION
Jeremy Josephs reports from Brussels, the chocolate capital of the world.
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It all began in a basement in Brussels. A
rather stylish basement, mind you, but a basement nonetheless. We are back in
the middle of the nineteenth century. Jean Neuhaus has left his
native Switzerland for the Belgian capital where he opens a
pharmacy-cum-confectionery in the Galerie de la Reine, one of the oldest and
most elegant arcades in Europe. Producing cough-drops and licorice to cure
heartburn, his bars of dark chocolate filled with vanilla cream go down a treat
with the locals. Jean’s wife Louise Agostini, a ballerina by training, came up
with the idea of the ballotin - the box now recognized throughout
the world as a symbol of Belgian chocolate - as a solution to the problem of
how to package their produce. But it was their grandson Frederick Neuhaus, who
inherited the family business shortly after the turn of the century, who was
the first to take an empty chocolate shell and fill it with the rich creations
developed by his grandfather. The first chocolate praline had been born - and
the same shop is still there in the same covered gallery to this day.
Belgium has been the world’s leader in
chocolate ever since. Annual per capita consumption is at a whopping 20kg per
person - with over 300 chocolate manufacturers catering to their tastes. Many
of these are small-size family-run operations - but that does not prevent them
from producing some 250,000 tonnes of the delicious but cholesterol inducing
substance a year, generating an annual income of 1.3 billion US dollars in the
process. And no self-respecting tourist would even contemplate leaving the
Kingdom without packing a ballotin or two in his or her luggage.
Praline might well have been born in Brussels
but the cocoa bean itself belongs to the Amazon valley, where it grew wild more
than 4,000 years ago. The so-called beverage of the Gods, tchocolath was
first discovered among the Aztecs by Cortés - although its taste did not
immediately appeal to the Spanish. A bitter brew of water, hot peppers and the ground
beans of the cocoa tree, the beverage was tonic but not particularly pleasant.
However, it did not take too long to discover that by adding a touch of sugar,
cinnamon or honey, it could soon be transformed into a rich and smooth nectar.
And once the beverage’s stimulant properties became common knowledge, chocolate
arrived in Europe with a steamy reputation as an aphrodisiac. Step forward the
ecclesiastical authorities who promptly put an end to all the fun by
classifying it as a satanic drug. Undeterred by threats of excommunication,
smuggling became a continent-wide activity, despite the excessive prices
resulting from prohibition. Eventually doctors found that a cup of chocolate
had noted medical properties, so that the Church’s earlier reticence was
overcome, the leading theologians of the day concluding that that the
troublesome brew ‘does not break one’s fast’. Introduced into French Royal
circles, chocolate soon found favour with the nobility, its popularity
spreading worldwide, the first chocolate bar being produced by the English back
in 1847. Which was exactly ten years before the good Jean Neuhaus arrived in
Brussels, together with his brother in law, a leading chemist.
Should you happen to find yourself in the
psychiatrist’s chair and the therapist is pursuing that well-trodden Freudian
pathway of random association, it is highly unlikely that he would call out
‘Belgian chocolate’. But were he to do so then no doubt the first thing that
would come into your mind by way of response would be ‘luxury’. And this in
turn would be almost entirely attributable to one Joseph Draps, who founded the
firm Godiva Chocolatier in Brussels shortly after World War II.
For t’was Draps who showed us how to nibble on chocolate filled with good
Scotch and munch on cherries that have been marinated for a month in fine
brand. Visit his premises today and you cannot avoid the impression that you
are in a tailor’s workshop, as women cut bolts of fine fabric with electric
scissors to produce boxes covered with satin or velvet. In fact his ballotins
have long since established themselves as collectors items, his shops enjoying
a classy reputation for understated elegance, where flower-bedecked displays
are surrounded by fine crystal and porcelain figurines. The company’s produce
is so in demand that there is now an entire export division devoted to
airfreighting chocolates to countries as far afield as Zaire (insulated boxes a
must) and Japan - where they can fetch up to $80 a pound.
Let’s go back to the psychiatrists chair.
"Chocolate", the shrink calls out. What was the first image that came
into your mind - a bar of chocolate or a cup of the hot beverage? Most likely
the former. Hot chocolate, however, is most certainly making a come back,
despite the undoubted popularity of the solid substance. That’s not to suggest
that an expresso at the bar or as nice cup of tea are
things of the past (perish the thought) - rather that with a cup of hot
chocolate to one’s lips you can’t help but view the world as a better place. For
hot chocolate (unlike coffee, which is regarded as cold, puritan and
intellectual by chocolate fans) lifts the spirits and is well rounded. And in
common with stratagems of seduction it is not downed mechanically in one gulp,
but is savoured at length, warming the cockles of the heart with its rich and
silky smoothness.
But isn’t chocolate in any shape or form
likely to make you fat? Most certainly - especially if you lead a sedentary
life and gorge yourself on it. But it also happens to be an excellent
high-energy food. Sir Edmund Hillary and his teammates devoured pounds of it
struggling up Mount Everest. All American and Soviet spaceflights have carried
it aboard. Entire armies have often used it for quick energy. You can almost
hear the Sergeant-Major rattling out the orders. "Altogether now, stop.
Eat chocolate bars. Forward, march."
You know what they say: a little of
what you fancy. Moderation: that’s the key. Nibble if you will, you
chocoholics, but take to heart the advice that appeared in a Spectator article
in England more than two centuries ago:
"I shall also advise my fair readers to
be in a particular manner careful how they meddle with romances, Chocolates,
novels, and the like inflamers…"
More recently the debate about the healing
qualities of chocolate has been rekindled, especially since it was discovered
that chocolate is not only rich in carbohydrates, but also contains minute
amounts of the stimulating alkaloids theobromine and caffeine. For not so very
far from Brussels, where vast quantities of chocolate continue to be produced,
a number of politicians are calling upon the European Commission to tax the
sweet at the basic rate of VAT rather than at the higher luxury rate. Why?
Because they claim to have new evidence proving that chocolate contains
important vitamins known to combat depression. Which, come to think of it, was
precisely what a number of medics had concluded several centuries earlier. With
the very real possibility, therefore, that in the not too distant future
whenever you head off to your local GP feeling a little down in the dumps you
could end up consuming praline on prescription. "Sorry everyone", you
announce to those looking on rather enviously as you pop one into your mouth,
"Doctor’s orders!"
The main Web site of freelance writer Jeremy
Josephs is at www.jeremyjosephs.com Please check there if you might be interested in
engaging him as a writer.
Many of his articles are available online.
Please check the sitemap
for a complete list.