Heritage

Incomparable in taste, Belgian chocolate holds a special place in our hearts, since Puratos was actually founded in Belgium. As such, we’re keen to continue the tradition that has made Belgian chocolate famous all over the world. Belcolade has been producing chocolate in Belgium for 30 years, using only the finest raw ingredients and the Belgian way of producing chocolate. Belcolade uses no fat other than that of cocoa and only natural vanilla. As a result, Belcolade chocolate has a particular, distinctive taste that does really well in consumer taste-tests. In 2008, Belcolade acquired 60 hectares of land in Chunca (formerly Tikul) in Yucatan, Mexico, where we planted criollo—one of the oldest, rarest, and finest varieties of cocoa to ever exist. There are five old varieties of cocoa in Mexico, which we want to preserve using a similar model to the one we used for our Sourdough Library. As such, we have built traditional Mayan huts on the land, which have been used to house a collection of these native varieties. We also aim to plant more than 300,000 trees there (66,000 have already been planted), in order to create a wildlife sanctuary and contribute further to protecting the local environment and biodiversity, as well as protecting valuable cocoa history. Puratos works with the Choco-Story museums to share the story of cocoa and explain how the beans are turned into chocolate. This is another great way of promoting our world-class Belgian chocolate. Ten museums are already open in Bruges, Brussels, Paris, Colmar, Prague, Pruhonice, Uxmal, Valladolid, Playa del Carmen and Beirut.