Satisfy your chocolate cravings by embarking on a journey to the World’s Best Chocolate Destinations. From Belgium’s artisanal pralines to Switzerland’s rich cocoa heritage, these places offer a delightful exploration of the art and flavors of chocolate-making.
World’s Best Chocolate Destinations
Artisan chocolate has seen a sharp increase in popularity in recent years. Consumers with good taste are requesting produce that is not only of higher quality but also comes from sustainable and ethical sources.
For those of us who enjoy sweets as well as the diligent cocoa farmers around the globe, this demand can only be good news.
Therefore, if you have a sweet tooth, there are countless ways to satisfy your cocoa-fueled craving while traveling. Better than any Dairy Milk bar, these chocolate-producing countries create some of the world’s best chocolate-based sweets. Get ready to melt into a cocoa paradise.
Chocolate Countries
Oaxaca, Mexico
The ancient Mesoamericans are credited with being the first people to make chocolate, having begun using the ground beans of the cacao plant circa 1900 BC. By combining ground cocoa, water, and cornflour to make a frothy, bitter hot chocolate beverage, they started the global obsession with chocolate.
Since then, Oaxaca, Mexico’s culture has made chocolate a deeply held tradition, with a large portion of the region’s produce still being produced by hand.
See the traditional methods used to mix the age-old treat at a local chocolate factory, and then visit the Abastos Market to taste the handcrafted chocolates made by Oaxaca’s artisan makers.
Switzerland
When Daniel Peter combined cow’s milk with the somewhat bitter dark brown confection that had made its way over from the Americas in 1875, Switzerland became enamored with chocolate. Peter’s efforts to improve its taste skyrocketed, and by 1879, Rudolphe Lindt had started the chocolate fondue trend.
In the world of chocolate manufacturing today, Lindt and Nestlé are well-known brands, but Toblerone is arguably the most well-known confection in this tiny nation. Many people think the Matterhorn, the most famous mountain in Switzerland, served as the model for its pyramidal shape. The Swiss have the highest per capita chocolate consumption rate in the world today, making them the biggest indulgers.
St Lucia
Not many would consider this Caribbean island to be the center of the world’s chocolate industry. Though the history of growing cacao is less well-known than the famous Pitons shrouded in jungle, the distinctive flavor of St. Lucian chocolate partly derives from these lush volcanic slopes.
St. Lucia is quickly rising to the top of the global chocolate tourism map due to the centuries-long cultivation of cacao in the region. St. Lucian chocolate, which is less saccharine-sweet than its European counterparts, gives enthusiasts a flavor depth that is difficult to find in homemade candies.
Some of the best resorts on the island have their own cacao plantations; in October, Jade Mountain hosts its annual Chocolate Festival as a way to commemorate.
Barcelona
Columbus could not have predicted the craze he was starting when he brought cacao beans back to Europe after learning that native Americans used the fruit.
Spain was the first country in Europe to taste chocolate, and over the past 150 years, some of the best chocolatiers have called Barcelona home. For more elaborate confections that will entice your palate, visit Chocolates Amatller and Chocolate a la Taza.
Sicily
UNESCO designated the eight towns of Val di Noto as emblems of “the final flowering of Baroque art in Europe” when adding them to the World Heritage List in June 2002.
This breathtakingly beautiful area, with the limestone Iblean plateau as its dominant feature, is home to the smaller towns of Ragusa and Modica as well as the honey-colored city of Noto. After learning that the Aztecs were using chocolate in Mexico in the sixteenth century, the Spanish were the ones who brought it to Sicily first.
In this region of the island, Sicilians still take great pride in producing chocolate using the same age-old techniques and traditional ingredients that the Aztecs did, even in the face of enormous technological advancements.
