# How did Switzerland become associated with quality chocolate? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 18, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131 "2013-09-18T09:48:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/1 "2013-09-18T09:48:49Z")
Inspired by a tangent in the discussion in this thread about [Cadbury’s chocolate](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=702265): I’ve long wondered how Switzerland came to be a byword for quality chocolate - I mean, the country is landlocked in almost exactly the centre of Western Europe, never had any colonial interests in Africa, South America, or anywhere else cocoa beans or sugar cane could be readily obtained and it just seems to be a rather unlikely place to become the Quality Chocolate Capital Of The World. So, how did Switzerland become famous for its chocolate? ---
**Author:** ![aNewLeaf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ac91a4/32.png) [@aNewLeaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aNewLeaf)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/2 "2013-09-18T09:57:34Z")
After Napoleon lost, the Swiss Army was forbidden from exporting young men any more, except to the vatican. Needing new trade goods, they settled on cuckoo clocks and chocolate. Is how I heard it. I imagine there’s some straighter dope than that. ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/3 "2013-09-18T10:43:48Z")
Cuckoo clocks emanate from Schwarzwald in Germany, though. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/4 "2013-09-18T11:00:53Z")
I think it has to do with all the milk they produce. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/5 "2013-09-18T11:03:08Z")
[“Because the great chocolate innovators were Swiss”](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2012/10/nobel_prize_and_chocolate_why_the_swiss_eat_and_produce_so_much_chocolate.html) They developed the [processing technology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conche) - essentially developing bar chocolate, before that it was mostly a drink. And they may not grow chocolate, but they grow lots of cows, as **terentii** noted. An essential ingredient in milk chocolate, which they, if not invented (accounts vary), certainly perfected. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/6 "2013-09-18T13:02:13Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > Cuckoo clocks emanate from Schwarzwald in Germany, though. The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/7 "2013-09-18T14:25:07Z")
> [@Flywheel](#): > > The swallow may fly south with the sun, or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land. Are you suggesting that cuckoo clocks migrate? ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/8 "2013-09-18T14:34:26Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Are you suggesting that cuckoo clocks migrate? Not at all. They could be carried. ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/9 "2013-09-18T14:39:52Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Are you suggesting that cuckoo clocks migrate? Didn’t I see a BBC documentary on that last April? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/10 "2013-09-18T14:44:24Z")
Don’t be so gloomy. After all it’s not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/11 "2013-09-18T15:43:27Z")
Two tidbits: When I was teaching in Berlin, a nice couple who were students of mine went on vacation to Switzerland. They bought a cuckoo clock (and it was a bit pricey) and had it shipped back to Berlin. Finally it arrived - they were quite proud of their Swiss souvenir - until they happened to look at the back of the clock and saw, “Made In Berlin” printed on it. When I was working in Switzerland at the small private school, we would take the kids into town on Saturdays and, if we ever lost them, we knew to look at the local Burger King - they flocked there. I found out it was “illegal” for Burger King to sell “chocolate shakes” in Switzerland - they had strawberry, vanilla and “mocca” shakes. When I asked one of the Swiss at the school why, they told me about the stringent laws in Switzerland for anything using the word “chocolate” - it had to be made with very specific ingredients - and Burger King’s “chocolate” shakes came nowhere near their specifications/code for “real” chocolate, thus they were not allowed to call them chocolate - so they simply fiddled with the flavoring and came up with mocca - a more coffee/chocolate-like flavor instead. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/12 "2013-09-18T17:23:10Z")
they make good cheese. they bribed food writers and store buyers with this good cheese to make claims that their chocolate was high quality. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2013, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/13 "2013-09-18T20:28:28Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > they make good cheese. > > they bribed food writers and store buyers with this good cheese to make claims that their chocolate was high quality. That theory is full of holes. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/14 "2013-09-19T17:32:26Z")
One theory: because industrial polllution in the 1800s caused the glaciers to melt rapidly, leading to lots of pastureland. > **[Pollution, Not Rising Temperatures, May Have Melted Alpine Glaciers](https://www.npr.org/2013/09/03/217177149/pollution-not-rising-temperatures-may-have-melted-alpine-glaciers)** > > About 160 years ago, before Europe began warming up, glaciers in the Alps started rapidly retreating. Now NASA scientists offer a possible explanation for this apparent paradox: Soot from the Industrial Revolution could have heated up the ice. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2013, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/15 "2013-09-19T22:41:48Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Switzerland came to be a byword for quality chocolate Personally would have awarded that epaulette to the Belgians, with extra points for their expertise at the beer brewing caper. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/16 "2013-09-20T03:46:17Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Personally would have awarded that epaulette to the Belgians, with extra points for their expertise at the beer brewing caper. Whilst I agree Belgian chocolate is excellent, Belgium did have significnant Colonial holdings which would provide access to cocoa beans etc. In short, I get how Belgium might have ended up with a chocolate legacy. Switzerland, however, is a different kettle of fish, hence the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/17 "2013-09-20T14:09:45Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > [“Because the great chocolate innovators were Swiss”](http://www.slate.com/articles/life/explainer/2012/10/nobel_prize_and_chocolate_why_the_swiss_eat_and_produce_so_much_chocolate.html) They developed the [processing technology](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conche) - essentially developing bar chocolate, before that it was mostly a drink. And they may not grow chocolate, but they grow lots of cows, as **terentii** noted. An essential ingredient in milk chocolate, which they, if not invented (accounts vary), certainly perfected. Chocolate as we know it involved a lot of technical development steps, but the major breakthroughs were separating the cocoa butter, and then roasting and grinding (differnent) beans, and then recombining the two products. The British were the first to combine them into a solid chocolate bar (thus Cadbury). Then, > [@wiki](#): > > Daniel Peter, a Swiss candle maker, joined his father-in-law’s chocolate business. In 1867, he began experimenting with milk as an ingredient. He brought his new product, milk chocolate, to market in 1875. He was assisted in removing the water content from the milk to prevent mildewing by a neighbour, a baby food manufacturer named Henri Nestlé. Rodolphe Lindt invented the process called conching, which involves heating and grinding the chocolate solids very finely to ensure that the liquid is evenly blended. This enabled Milton Hershey to make chocolate even more popular by mass-producing affordable chocolate bars. ---
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2013, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-switzerland-become-associated-with-quality-chocolate/669131/18 "2013-09-20T15:04:30Z")
I like English chocolate better.