The best Swiss chocolate

Especially if you spent all your francs on cheese & train tickets

Many thanks to Madaleine and Amanda for becoming paid ReSwissed subscribers last week and funding my chocolate research. I welcome all support, be it monetary, comments, or sharing this newsletter with someone you think would like it.

Do you have a favorite regional gift you like to bring people? 

When we lived in Louisville, my go-to after bourbon was Modjeskas, a caramel-covered marshmallow from Muth’s Candies. They didn’t have to be checked when flying, they were easy to ship, and they were delicious. After Louisville, we moved to Boston, then D.C., and I never really found my modjeska replacement. Blue crabs? Mumbo sauce? 

In Switzerland, it’s easy: chocolate. Specifically, Ragusa, my favorite, which I mentioned before in this post about stuff we brought to the US on our first trip back in April. 

This box is half empty.

When I used to come to Switzerland as a child, Ragusa was reliably among the many treats my godmother gave my brother and me when we went out to visit her. It’s what I brought back as a gift for friends and coworkers when Gabe and I visited Switzerland over the years, especially as Lindt started showing up in the Walgreens candy aisle. Ragusa has the added benefit of being in almost every grocery store here, but only on Amazon and specialty stores in the US, making it a special treat. 

Let’s learn a little about how this special treat came to be. 

In 1929, Camille Bloch, a chocolatier from Bern, and his partner Paul Weil founded Chocolate et Bonbons fins Camille Bloch. In 1935, they moved the business from Bern to Courtelary, a town in the French-speaking part of the canton of Bern. I didn’t realize Bern the canton had a French speaking part. Anyway, when they moved, they also changed the company name to Chocolats Camille Bloch. 

In 1942, Camille Bloch invented Ragusa. The original candy contains gianduja (a blend of milk chocolate, hazelnut paste, and icing sugar. This sometimes gets translated as “praline,” which means something totally different in American English), whole hazelnuts, and a darker milk chocolate outer layer – a perfect mixture for young Linda. Since I’ve developed my current refined palate, which embraces everything from oysters to cilantro (still working on olives and anise), I prefer the dark chocolate “Ragusa Noir”. It’s still extremely rich but slightly less sweet. 

The chocolate bar’s name comes from Ragusa, Croatia, now Dubrovnik, where Bloch once visited on vacation. The company history asserts that “he decided to adopt this name because he found it pleasing to the ear and compatible with all the national languages.” 

Camille Bloch died in 1970. His son Rolf took over, and in 1997, he passed control of the company to his son, Daniel, who remains in charge today. Additional Ragusa products include Ragusa So Nuts, which appear to be hazelnuts covered with the “praline” (hazelnut-chocolate paste) and milk chocolate, and Ragusa Blond, where caramelized milk powder replaces the outer milk chocolate layer. I will try the Blond, if I’m offered some, and I would house the So Nuts, so I’ll focus my spending on the classic and the noir. 

You can visit the Camille Bloch Discovery World in Courtelary. There are guided tours and a 4D cinema, in which “you take on the role of an unbeatable hazelnut for a close-up view of how Ragusa is made.” You can also make your own Ragusa bar (48 CHF for two people, this includes admission to Discovery World).  

If I ever do this, you’ll know. 

Sources

Gianduja – where does the name of this chocolate come from?

Lüscher, Erik. In aller Munde: best of Switzerland : die 100 beliebtesten Schweizer Lebensmittel. Lenzburg: Faro. 2009. 

Ragusa history

Ragusa workshops