Swiss chocolate is

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

produced in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. While cacao beans and other ingredients such as

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...

cane originate from outside Switzerland, the actual production of the chocolate must take place in Switzerland. Switzerland's chocolates have earned an international reputation for high quality with many famous international chocolate brands. Switzerland is particularly renowned for its

milk chocolate Milk chocolate is a solid chocolate confectionery containing cocoa, sugar and milk. Chocolate was originally sold and consumed as a beverage in pre-Columbian times, and upon its introduction to Western Europe. Major milk chocolate producers incl ...

. In 1875, a Swiss

confectioner Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categorie ...

Daniel Peter Daniel Peter (9 March 1836 – 4 November 1919) was a Swiss chocolatier and entrepreneur who founded Peter's Chocolate. A neighbour of Henri Nestlé in Vevey, he was one of the first chocolatiers to make milk chocolate and is credited for inven ...

, developed the first solid milk chocolate using condensed milk, which had been invented by Henri Nestlé, who was Peter's neighbour in

Vevey Vevey (; frp, Vevê; german: label=former German, Vivis) is a town in Switzerland in the canton of Vaud, on the north shore of Lake Geneva, near Lausanne. The German name Vivis is no longer commonly used. It was the seat of the district of ...

History

The 17th century saw the start of chocolate processed in Switzerland. In the 18th century chocolate was only produced in a few areas, such as the

Ticino Ticino (), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino,, informally ''Canton Ticino'' ; lmo, Canton Tesin ; german: Kanton Tessin ; french: Canton du Tessin ; rm, Chantun dal Tessin . ...

. The early 19th century saw the first mechanized chocolate factories, all in western Switzerland. Among the pioneering industrials were

François-Louis Cailler François-Louis Cailler (11 June 1796 – 6 April 1852) was a Swiss entrepreneur and early chocolatier who founded Cailler, the first modern brand of Swiss chocolate and the oldest still in existence, in 1819. Biography Cailler was born in V ...

, Philippe Suchard and

Charles-Amédée Kohler Charles-Amédée Kohler (born Charles-Gottlieb Kohler; 15 June 1790 – 15 September 1874) was a Swiss chocolatier and entrepreneur who founded Chocolat Kohler. He notably invented hazelnut chocolate, in his factory opened in 1830 in Lausanne ...

. In the second half of the 19th century, Swiss chocolate started to spread abroad. Closely linked to this was the invention of

in Vevey and the invention of

conching upright=1.35, Conche (in the Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum) Conching is a process used in the manufacture of chocolate whereby a surface scraping mixer and agitator, known as a conche, evenly distributes cocoa butter within chocolate and may act as ...

by Rodolphe Lindt. Most large chocolate factories were founded in the 19th and early-20th centuries. Timeline of chocolate factories foundations: * 1819 - Cailler in

(today

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Switzerland, Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other me ...

) * 1826 - Favarger in

Versoix Versoix () is a municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland, which sits on the north-west side of Lake Geneva, north-east of the city of Geneva. Geography Versoix has an area, , of . Of this area, or 29.1% is used for agricultural purpo ...

, Canton of Geneva * 1826 - Suchard in Serrières (today

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arran ...

) * 1830 - Kohler in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

(today Nestlé) * 1836 - Sprüngli in Zurich, company split into Confiserie Sprüngli and Lindt & Sprüngli in 1892 * 1852 - Maestrani in

Luzern Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...

(today in

Flawil Flawil is a municipality in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland with slightly over 10,000 inhabitants. It is the regional centre of Untertoggenburg, but belongs to the ''Wahlkreis'' (constituency) of Wil. History Flawil is first mentioned in ...

) * 1856 - Klaus in

Le Locle Le Locle (; german: Luggli) is a municipality in the Canton of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. It is situated in the Jura Mountains, a few kilometers from the city of La Chaux-de-Fonds. It is the third smallest city in Switzerland (in Switzerland ...

, Canton of Neuchâtel * 1867 - Peter in Vevey (today Nestlé) * 1879 -

Lindt Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG, doing business as Lindt, is a Swiss chocolatier and confectionery company founded in 1845 and known for its chocolate truffles and chocolate bars, among other sweets. It is based in Kilchberg, where its ...

Bern german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese , neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen , website ...

(today Lindt & Sprüngli) * 1887 - Frey in

Aarau , neighboring_municipalities= Buchs, Suhr, Unterentfelden, Eppenberg-Wöschnau, Erlinsbach , twintowns = Neuchâtel (Switzerland), Delft (Netherlands), Reutlingen (Germany) Aarau (, ) is a town, a municipality, and the capital of the ...

(today

Migros Migros () is Switzerland's largest retail company, its largest supermarket chain and largest employer. It is also one of the forty largest retailers in the world. It is structured in the form of a cooperative federation (the Federation of Mig ...

) * 1899 - Tobler in Bern (today Kraft Foods) * 1901 - Villars in Villars sur Glâne * 1903 - Cima-Norma in Torre (closed in 1968) * 1908 - Felchlin in Schwyz * 1928 -

Stella SA Stella or STELLA may refer to: Art, entertainment, and media Comedy *Stella (comedy group), a comedy troupe consisting of Michael Showalter, Michael Ian Black and David Wain Characters * Stella (given name), including a list of characters with t ...

in Lugano (1987 Giubiasco) * 1929 - Camille Bloch in

Courtelary Courtelary is a municipality of the French-speaking Bernese Jura, in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. The town is the capital of the Jura bernois administrative district. History Courtelary is first mentioned in 968 as ''Curtis Alerici'' in a ...

* 1932 -

Teuscher Teuscher is a chocolatier headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland. Teuscher's main store is on Zurich's famed Bahnhofstrasse. The flagship store is a few blocks away in Zurich's old city centre (Storchengasse 9) in a shop built in 1647. Founde ...

in a small town in the

Swiss Alps The Alpine region of Switzerland, conventionally referred to as the Swiss Alps (german: Schweizer Alpen, french: Alpes suisses, it, Alpi svizzere, rm, Alps svizras), represents a major natural feature of the country and is, along with the Swis ...

* 1932 - Bernrain in

Kreuzlingen Kreuzlingen is a municipality in the district of Kreuzlingen in the canton of Thurgau in north-eastern Switzerland. It is the seat of the district and is the second-largest city of the canton, after Frauenfeld, with a population of about 22,000 ...

* 1933 - Halba in Wallisellen (today

Coop Coop, COOP, Co-op, or ''variation'', most often refers to: * A chicken coop or other enclosure * Cooperative or co-operative ("co-op"), an association of persons who cooperate for their mutual social, economic, and cultural benefit ** Housing co ...

) * 1934 - Kägi Söhne in Toggenburg * 1957 -

Alprose Alprose is a Swiss chocolate producer based in Caslano (Ticino). It was founded in 1957 under the name ''Titlis SA'' (in reference to the mountain in the Swiss Alps) and received its current name in 1983. Products Alprose produces a variety of ...

in Caslano * 1962 - Läderach in

Ennenda Ennenda is a former municipality in the canton of Glarus in Switzerland. Effective from 1 January 2011, Ennenda is part of the municipality of Glarus. History Ennenda is first mentioned around 1303-07 as ''Obront-Ennant-A'' and ''Nydern-Ennant ...

Sales market

From the 19th century until the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

and throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

the Swiss chocolate industry was very export-oriented. After the Second World War Switzerland began to outsource production due to commercial restrictions. Today most Swiss chocolate is consumed by the Swiss themselves (54% in 2000), and Switzerland has the highest per capita rate of chocolate consumption worldwide (11.6 kg (25.6 lbs.) per capita per annum). In 2004, 148,270 tonnes of chocolate were produced in Switzerland. 53% of this was exported (20% to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, 11% to France and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

and 13% to

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

). The gross income of the Swiss chocolate industry in 2004 was 1.37 billion CHF (814 million from the local market, 551 million from exports).

Industry structure

In 1901, Swiss chocolate producers created the . In 1916, this was divided into the and the . The former "Chambre syndicale" (today the Chocosuisse) protects the interests of Swiss chocolate producers. The "Convention chocolatière" focused on the quality of the chocolate and sought a uniform price strategy. In 1994 the Convention was disbanded.

Tourism

Chocolate Train Swiss Montreux Gruyère (20497588141)

Several factories have also become tourist attractions as they include guided tours and chocolate museums. Some of the largest are the ''Lindt Home of Chocolate'' in Kilchberg, the ''Maison Cailler'' in

Broc Broc (; frp, Broc, locally ) is a municipality in the district of Gruyère in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. History Broc is first mentioned in 1115 as ''Broc'' and ''Broch''. The municipality was formerly known by its German name ''B ...

and the ''Maestrani's Chocolarium'' in

References

Some content of this article came from the equivalent German-language Wikipedia article (retrieved October 10, 2006), where the following references is cited: * Alain J. Bourgard: ''CH comme Chocolat'', 2003,

Notes

External links

Swiss chocolate
in the Culinary Heritage of Switzerland
Chocosuisse: Union of Swiss Chocolate Manufacturers

Information about Swiss Chocolat:www.swissworld.org

Annual International Chocolatiers and Chocolate Fair
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swiss Chocolate

Chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...

Economic history of Switzerland Culinary Heritage of Switzerland Swiss confectionery Economy of Switzerland