The Worlds Finest Chocolates
Have to be Swiss !

If you want to indulge in the worlds finest chocolates, then you must visit a Swiss online chocolate store for a feast that will delight your eyes.

I was talking to a friend the other day and we were trying to decide who makes the worlds finest chocolates.

If you live in the USA you will be use to seeing extravagant claims for being the world's finest this or the world's biggest that.

And so it is for chocolate, many manufacturers claim to make the worlds finest chocolates. But making a claim and truly living up to it are entirely different.

Cocoa (theobroma cacao) from which chocolate is made, belongs to the sterculiaceae group of plants.

It grows best in warm humid countries like Brazil, Cameroon, the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Malaysia and Nigeria.

The cocoa plant can grow to a height of 15m with leaves and fruit similar to the almond tree.

The fruits contain numerous seeds from which the cocoa powder and butter are extracted.

Chocolate has been around for over 3 thousands years, dating back to the Olmecs civilization as early as 1000 B.C.

The Mayas established the first plantations before 600 A.D.

By 1000 A.D the Aztec's are reported to have used cocoa beans not only as a trading currency but to make the first chocolate drinks.

In 1528 Hernando Cortez brought cocoa home to Spain where it spread to France and other parts of Europe.

By the early 19th century many of today's brand names had been established.

Today, chocolate has a loyal band of devotes who will go to great lengths to find and revel in what they consider to be the worlds finest chocolates.

They are every bit as fervent as beer fans, who travel half way around the world to attend the German beer festival.

My friend Helen, has been to countries all over the world and never fails to indulge herself in the finest chocolate where ever she goes.

She tells me however that she has never been to the worlds finest chocolate festival, or any chocolate festival for that matter, but yes they do have chocolate festivals.

If you think no one cares about who makes the worlds finest chocolates, then think again. Helen has a friend who is a chocoholic and has literally trekked all over the world to feed his passion for the finest chocolates.

He has climbed up mountains in the Andes looking for chocolate brewed in small villages the way they did thousands of years ago. He has hiked across Europe, living on chocolate and beer until he was completely sick of both.

I like to think of him as the first true chocoholic, mixing chocolate with alcohol. And all of it, in quest of the worlds finest chocolate.

To someone who has tasted some of the worlds finest chocolates, the sort of stuff most of use eat may be called chocolate but that's about as far as it goes, it's chocolate in name only.

It's chocolate for the masses since most of us have never tasted real chocolate. When you do you'll know the difference and not easily go back to eating the mass produced varieties.

Everyone has there own opinion about the finest chocolates.

For chocolate gifts ranging from $26 to $1,319 try chocolate made by world-champion chocolatiers who make luxury and unique chocolate gifts

They also contain no preservatives and no fat other than pure cocoa butter.

For me the worlds finest chocolates have to be Swiss, but Belgian and French chocolate is a close second.

My personal all time favorite Swiss chocolates are by Lindt and Sprüngli. If you are ever in Switzerland take the time to visit one of the many chocolate factories for an experience not to be missed.

Other Swiss producers of some of the worlds finest chocolates are Maestrani who invented milk chocolate in 1875 and Cailler makers of the finest chocolates since 1819.

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