Table of Contents
- Discover chocolate Swissness
- Buy the chocolate you can't get at home
- Learn to taste chocolate to discern what you really like
- Visit local chocolate makers for the best options
- Ask for recommendations from the people who know chocolate best
- Venture into the luxury chocolate shops
- Don't sleep on the grocery store
- Know these designations
- Check the expiration date and plan acordingly
- Ship it!
You’ve had an amazing time in Switzerland and now it’s time to pack up and head home. But before you do, you want to make sure to go souvenir shopping. You want to get something that Switzerland is known for. It’s plentiful and readily available, but how do you buy chocolate thoughtfully in a country that has so much variety? As a Level 1 certified chocolate taster (yes, that’s a thing!) living in Switzerland, I’ve made it my mission to uncover irresistible local shops and brands. Let’s explore my best tips on how to buy Swiss-made chocolate.
1. Discover chocolate Swissness
Firstly, it’s important to know why you’re buying Swiss chocolate in the first place. Switzerland is known for chocolate for a few reasons. At the top of the lengthy list is the sheer abundance of dairy cows and access to quality milk, as well as the country’s global reputation for excellence and innovation.
Switzerland has a long legacy of chocolate production. In 1819, François-Louis Cailler opened a factory in Corsier-sur-Vevey in 1819. Today, his chocolate brand, Cailler, is the oldest Swiss chocolate company still in operation today. You’ll find it in most grocery stores, and in different forms, including cookies, hot chocolate powder, pralines, and more.
Speaking of innovation, the modern conching technique was invented in 1879 in Bern, which is another source of Swiss pride. If you’ve ever been on a factory tour, you’ll remember the striking conching process – where long metal arms or mechanized rollers aerate vats of rich, smooth, creamy liquid chocolate to develop flavour and create a homogenised mixture that melts easily on your tongue.
And when you visit Switzerland, you’re also visiting the birthplace of milk chocolate. In 1875, Daniel Peter began experimenting with adding milk to his chocolate recipe, which was an instant hit, forever cementing Switzerland’s association with chocolate.
2. Buy the chocolate you can’t get at home
For a unique gift or souvenir, always, always, always buy the chocolate you can’t get at home. Especially if you’re buying for loved ones who value a gastronomic experience, you can find interesting chocolate innovations that haven’t yet reached the other side of the world (and no, I’m not talking about Dubai chocolate, which you can easily buy in most tourist destinations now).
For example, blond chocolate is white chocolate whose milk powder was toasted prior to being incorporated into the rest of the ingredients. The result is a malty, caramel-like chocolate with a tan hue and toasty aroma. It would intrigue even the severest of white chocolate haters. Blond chocolate is available in most mid-range Swiss chocolate shops like Confiserie Sprüngli., and you’ll also find it at the grocery store, though you shouldn’t expect to see it in traditional confiseries.
Ruby chocolate is a pinkish or reddish bar that you’ll find in some high-end chocolatiers in Geneva and can usually find it in tablet form at confiseries elsewhere, like Bachman. It has been the subject of much debate, as its inventor, Barry Callebaut of the Belgian brand, introduced it as the fourth type of chocolate and claims it should be added to the canon alongside white, milk, and dark.
Ruby chocolate is not colored with dye or flavored with fruit powder, though upon tasting it, you’ll notice tangy notes of raspberry. Rather, it is made from cacao beans that have a red interior grown in Brazil, Ecuador, and the Ivory Coast.
3. Learn to taste chocolate to discern what you really like
Chocolate tasting has gained momentum in recent years and has been likened to wine tasting. Once you know how to taste chocolate and what to taste for, you’ll uncover a world of flavours, open your palette to new tastes, and engage all of your senses for a more informed experience.
Taste your chocolate from the lowest percentage of cocoa to the highest. You’ll start with white chocolate, progress to milk chocolate, and end with dark chocolate. More cocoa yields a more intense chocolate flavour, and it becomes more difficult to detect the flavors in milk and white chocolate.
Now, we taste:
- Look at the chocolate. Notice the shade and colour, shininess, and design.
- Smell the chocolate. The first sign of the flavor you’ll taste is found in the aroma. The warmth of your hand will release the notes of this particular piece.
- Snap the chocolate. Texture is part of the experience, and high-quality chocolate will make a crisp snap upon breaking or biting. The quality of the snap indicates the craftspersonship; the crisper the snap, the better the quality of the cocoa butter, the more finely ground the cocoa, and the more expertly the chocolate was tempered.
- Taste the chocolate. Place the chocolate in your mouth and observe the texture as it melts, resisting the urge to chew.
- Savour the chocolate. Think about what you are tasting. What do you notice? Does it spark memories? What individual flavours can you identify? How long does the flavour last?
4. Visit local chocolate makers for the best options
After spending some time in Switzerland, you’ll notice that some chocolate shops are located in every major tourist town. Some of these companies are recognised across the world, and some are just beginning to expand. For the most unique chocolate, skip them and head to the smaller shops.
Why? Chocolate brands that produce on such a large scale usually use lower-quality ingredients, add in preservatives to make selling worldwide possible, machinery to make huge amounts, and may not be as transparent about their supply chain.
Small-batch chocolate makers typically sell their products at higher prices, but it’s well worth it. You’ll notice thinner shells on their truffles, which is a sign of handmade chocolates, more experimentation when it comes to flavours, luxury packaging, and higher quality ingredients that you can taste. These companies sometimes have direct relationships with cocoa farmers too.
Plus, purchasing a set of chocolates you can’t get anywhere else is special, creates a wonderful memory, and gives you another reason to revisit Switzerland, like During Chocolatier in Lausanne, which only has one location worldwide.
5. Ask for recommendations from the people who know chocolate best
Ask a Swiss person, like your Trip Manager or hotel concierge, for a recommendation for a local chocolatier. If you’re lucky, they’ll share their family’s favourite chocolate shop, likely a hyperlocal maker that they’ve been visiting for years and exclusively buy from for holidays and gifts, like Tristan Carbonatto Chocolatier in Perroy.
While you’re in a chocolate shop, ask the shop worker what they like. Their job is to taste the whole store, so you’ll get an honest opinion from a professional.
If you’re an adventurous eater, you’ll also discover that European chocolate shops often have flavours incorporated into their confections that aren’t popular – or even available elsewhere. For example, tonka is quite common in chocolate shops and gelaterias, but is not legally sold in the United States. Rhubarb is another unicity that isn’t widely available, with its muted green hue and borderline sourness. Both pair beautifully with dark chocolate. Some chocolate workshops, like Max Chocolatier in Luzern and Zurich, roll out seasonal collections that vary from year to year, so when you see an intriguing flavor, be sure to snap it up!
6. Venture into the luxury chocolate shops
Swiss chocolatiers take pride in crafting a bespoke shopping experience in their boutiques. Across the country, you’ll find shops of all stripes, from modern interiors that make you feel like you stepped into a couture store at Guillame Bichet in Geneva, to ones that evoke an Alpine chalet in the mountains, to ones that inspire awe, complete with chocolate fountains and waterfalls.
Don’t be intimidated. Treat venturing into a luxury shop like a cultural experience, because it is. Sales associates are ready to answer your questions and find options at most price points.
7. Don’t sleep on the grocery store
Yes, Swiss chocolate can be very expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. Swiss people have high standards for chocolate, so you can rest assured that even grocery store brand chocolate is higher quality than you might expect. Many chocolate brands, like Camille Bloch, Villars, Oro de Cacao, and Cailler are sold in Switzerland’s popular grocery store chains at affordable prices without sacrificing quality, and certainly not taste. This is a great option if you’re purchasing for friends or family at home, or if you’d like to take a larger volume of chocolate home at a lower price.
8. Know these designations
There are a few common certifications that chocolate shoppers will recognize. After looking at chocolate for a while, you’ll see the “Swiss made” designation displayed on wrappers and packaging, meaning that the product was manufactured in Switzerland. Chocolate Stella, a Swiss brand that is also Fairtrade, celebrates its Swissness with a tiny Swiss flag on its logo.
Products containing cocoa that are marked with the Fairtrade International Certification logo indicate that the cocoa farmers are paid a fair price for their cocoa and have decent working conditions.
Chocolate marked with the Rainforest Alliance Certification logo has met social, economic, and environmental standards in support of the overall goal of sustainability.
9. Check the expiration date and plan acordingly
This is really important: be sure to check the expiration date on that box of truffles or ask the chocolatier for a best buy date on that tablet. Because many Swiss chocolate makers produce on a smaller scale and don’t ship chocolate as far, they also don’t use preservatives that larger factories use to extend the bars’ shelf life. That means you’ll need to eat your chocolate in a shorter period of time, otherwise you risk the texture changing from silky to crumbly, the colour morphing into spots, and the flavours becoming stale, less vibrant, or going off entirely. Even though it’s special, Swiss chocolate is meant to be eaten, so make sure to consume it within the recommended date range.
10. Ship it!
Think you’re going to pile tons of Swiss chocolate into your checked bag? Think again! Swiss chocolate makers will tell you explicitly to put your treasures in your carry-on to keep them from freezing in the cargo hold. Freezing temperatures can make it brittle, and you don’t want to take the chance of ruining your high-quality (and maybe expensive) chocolate by putting it under the plane. And the no-refrigeration rule holds true when you get home: don’t you dare stick that Swiss chocolate in the fridge.
If you’re short on space, consider sending the chocolate directly to your house from the shop. If they ship internationally, they will know exactly how to pack your order so it arrives home in the best condition.
