Dark chocolate with caramelised almonds, from Meurisse — founded by Adolphe Meurisse in Antwerp in 1845, and the oldest Belgian chocolate house still in operation.
Belgium and the caramelised nut
This is not an arbitrary combination. Caramelised nuts in chocolate are the foundation of praline, and praline is more or less Belgium's contribution to world confectionery — the filled chocolate as we know it was invented in Brussels in 1912. A bar of dark chocolate with caramelised almonds is that tradition in its plainest form.
Why caramelising changes everything
A plain almond in chocolate adds crunch and a mild nuttiness. A caramelised almond adds something else entirely, because two different browning reactions have happened to it.
Sugar heated past about 160 °C caramelises — breaking apart and recombining into hundreds of compounds that taste toasted, nutty and faintly bitter as well as sweet. At the same time the almond's own sugars and proteins undergo the Maillard reaction, which is what gives roasted things their savoury depth.
The result is a nut that tastes deep and slightly burnt rather than simply sweet, and it is exactly what a dark chocolate wants alongside it: the bitterness of the cacao and the toasted bitterness of the caramel recognise each other.
The hard sugar shell also keeps the almond crisp inside the bar, where a plain nut would eventually soften.
Meurisse
Re-established by Adolphe's great-great-great-grandchildren, working with single-origin, fair-trade, organic cacao. Plastic-free packaging with a home-compostable inner wrapper.
Allergens and storage
Contains almonds, a declarable tree-nut allergen. Store cool and dry, 15–18 °C, away from strong smells. Not the fridge — humidity softens caramel. Check the pack for the full declaration.