Farmers are first cultivating cocoa beans: LINDT uses mostly high-quality fine cocoa - Criollo and Trinitario - from selected regions in South and Central America and West Africa. 

These precious cocoa beans account for less than 5% of the world's harvest, and are therefore more expensive not only for their wonderful aroma, but also because farmers who cultivate cocoa, which is important for LINDT's quality aspirations, receive a higher income in the interests of fair trade. The consumer cocoa also used by LINDT comes mainly from Ghana, where one of the best forasteros grows. 

Cocoa is harvested by hand, fermented and dried. This is a labor-intensive process that takes place locally.

When cocoa trees reach maturity, they produce white or pink five-petalled flowers throughout the year, as well as fruits, the cocoa pods that attach directly to the stem. This phenomenon, called Stammblütigkeit, distinguishes the cacao tree mostly from plants whose flowers and fruits sit on the tips of the outermost branches.

A skilled and brisk worker can open about 500 pods an hour! There are no harvesters for cocoa - farmers use short blades mounted on long poles to reach the highest fruit. The pods of the pods are opened with machetes to peel out the cocoa beans surrounded by pulp. 

In the next step, the beans are stored in large boxes, or piled up and covered with banana leaves. During the next 3-7 days, the beans are fermented. The flesh heats up around the beans, activates enzymes and creates compounds that give the beans their chocolate flavor - losing about 50% of their weight. The fermentation is complete when the beans have become deep dark brown. 

Upon arrival, the cocoa beans are cleaned and separated from their shells. These so-called cocoa nibs are carefully roasted at LINDT according to in-house procedures. This process is also important for the formation of the first delicate flavors. Then they are broken in special mills and finely ground until liquid cocoa mass is produced. It is the most important ingredient - the basis - for the production of chocolate. After that, the chocolate production can begin by mixing the other three basic ingredients (cocoa butter, sugar, milk) with the cocoa mass.

Thereafter, the mixture is refined by steel rollers which reduce the small cocoa and sugar particles into microscopic particles. The subsequent conching takes several hours depending on the recipe. In the conche, the chocolate is kneaded and stirred, and cocoa butter and lecithin (a soy-based emulsifier) ​​are added. The conching was invented in 1879 by Rodolphe Lindt. That was a revolutionary process for the chocolate world. With the addition of cocoa butter, cocoa mass is stirred for hours in an elongated conche, so that the chocolate is "ventilated" and the bitter-sour aromas gradually escape. 

The constant stirring also has a homogenizing effect: This forms a very thin layer of cocoa butter around each of the smallest particles. The result is velvety soft chocolate with a harmonious taste. For a perfect look, the chocolate must be tempered, ie heated, cooled and reheated. By tempering the chocolate gets a velvety gloss, a matte shimmer and good breaking strength. Finally, the chocolate is formed into sheets or poured into other products and packaged for retail.

Lindt Pralinés

Pralinés are the highest creation in the kitchen of the Maîtres Chocolatiers. When the desirable delicacies emerge, there is a lot of manual skill in the game that expresses love and passion. Thus, the small masterpieces have a magical attraction, which entices the connoisseur again and again.