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Lindt Chocolate- The Swiss Chocolate Standard
By Joanne Fletcher

History

The Lindt Chocolate Companies history is set in 1845 Switzerland, where a father and son began making regionally famous chocolates. When the father died he passed his mini empire to his two sons, on received the retail stores, the other the factory; the son who inherited the factory acquired another famous confectioners factory, that famous confectioner was Rudolph Lindt.

The son was able to use Lindt's recipes and keep the famous name as well; the company grew and changed hands, but the quality of chocolate never changed. Even during the World Wars, while demand was low due to financial hardships, consumers still demanded only the finest quality when they did indulge in their tasty treats. After the World Wars, as consumer demand grew, so did Lindt Chocolates; expanding to have a manufacturing plant and/or distribution center on most continents.

The Chocolate Process

Lindt's chocolate producers monitor every aspect of their chocolates process, from the beans to melt in your mouth, quality is the priority to the company. Lindt Chocolate Company only chooses the finest quality coco beans from the Crillo tree; only ten percent of all coco beans in the worlds market, come from these types of trees. Once the beans are harvested they are fermented, dried, and shipped. Once at the factory the coco beans are carefully roasted, cleaned, and pre-crushed; Lindt doesn't allow even a spare dust particle to contaminate their chocolate, they have a very strict quality requirements.

After the beans have been partially crushed, they are ground into a fine paste, this paste is further refined into two parts; coco butter and coco powder. The coco butter and coco powder are separately refined; the coco butter is purified and the coco powder is sifted to the perfect consistency. The coco butter and powder are rejoined in specific amounts to create different varieties of chocolate; dark chocolate: coco butter, coco powder, and sugar. White chocolate only has the coco butter mixed with other ingredients, and milk chocolate as the name suggests contains milk as well as sugar, coco powder, and coco butter.

Before any Lindt chocolate will meet their strict quality standards, the mixture must be rolled, “conched”, and tempered. The rolling compresses the particles of sugar and coco, making the chocolate paste even smoother; but this is only the first step in the process of making their ultra fine texture. Next they use a special machine which has troughs they call conches, these conches heat the chocolate paste to 80 degrees Celsius and stir it continually for 2-3 days until the perfect texture is achieved. The chocolate is then gently cooled and tempered to just above 30 degrees Celsius.

Lindt's Selection

Lindt's Chocolate offers many ways to enjoy their gourmet chocolates; truffles, bar chocolate, and pralines (filled chocolates). The truffles are available in several tempting flavors including: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate and hazel nut or peanut butter filled. Their chocolate bars have over 20 flavors, some that are familiar such as milk chocolate, some that are exotic such as pear, and some that are luxurious such as 99% cocoa. They also offer a sampler kit that allows for sets of six or twelve bars to be ordered and customized with any variety of the 20 plus, flavors. Lindt Chocolate Company also offers seasonal items that may be ordered for all special occasions.

Author Details:
Joanne Fletcher for various sites including the A-Z of and Information Junkie

Source: Simply Top Article Directory

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