Posted by Clay Gordon, July 23, 2008 at 2:15 PM
Photograph of a longitudinal conche at the Felchlin factory in Schywz, Swtizerland.
As an invited guest and featured speaker at the 100th anniversary celebration for major chocolate company Max Felchlin AG in Switzerland last week, I was reminded that chocolate didn't possess the smooth, creamy texture we take for granted today until Rudolphe Lindt invented the conche in 1879.
The Swiss are famous for producing chocolates with a very fine "mouth feel," achieved through a number of manufacturing secrets, last of which is "conching." Perhaps apocryphal, the creation story of the conche says that Lindt, well known for his chocolate manufacturing techniques, left his lab one Friday afternoon to go hunting for the weekend, but forgot to turn off a piece of machinery. When he returned to the lab on Monday morning, he found the machine still running and the chocolate inside, transformed.
The conching process delivers several important improvements to chocolate's taste and texture.
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Posted by Robyn Lee, July 23, 2007 at 10:45 AM
If police stopped you while driving in Fribourg, Switzerland last Wednesday, you had something to look forward to (assuming you had a clean driving record). Safe drivers were rewarded with 100-gram chocolate bars embossed with the police force coat of arms during a 24-hour "Thank You" campaign to encourage safe driving.
Switzerland is well known for chocolate, so free chocolate from the local police isn't too unexpected, although probably not common practice. Would it hurt adapt the practice of giving free chocolate for good driving behavior here as well? Chocolate would certainly make me feel happier about driving.
Posted by Nathalie Jordi, January 23, 2007 at 11:48 AM
Rooted in the Japanese tradition of chindogu is the Swiss art of Umdenken. Whereas chindogus self-identify as the deliberate invention of the useless, the Swiss are actually quite resourceful. As is their wont.
I especially like the Schweizerstäbli, the Ölfinger, the T-Fresh and the Sommerpedale.
Thanks Paul for the link!
