Chocolate on the peak – Hungarian artisan products for the holidays

Miraculous hind-selection, pálinka-caviar, beer-jelly with pepper or popping candy – would you think that these are premium desserts? Let’s celebrate with special sweets through the selection of travelo.hu.

Christmas without chocolate? It is sad even to think about it. While Milka was the peak in our childhood and a box of Ferrero was the luxury itself, today a self-respecting person always gifts artisan sweets.

Tricky delicacy: Lyan Chocolate Manufacture

So why are the products of Lyan called tricky? Because of their best-known family of product, the “edible alcohols” only for the 18-plus customers. The 18-plus sign should be taken seriously: the pálinka goodies contain real pálinka, and consuming it with the added sugar can go to one’s head surprisingly fast. Pálinka pastry, pálinka ball and pálinka vaccine present the boozy fineness in different kinds of witty forms, but wine- and beer-based goodies are also made. The mulled-wine-cube, for example, is a jelly cube with high collagen-content which hides the taste of the original mulled wine.

Photo: Andras Nagy / Lyan.hu

Hot chocolate is one of the favourites of the season among the chocolates of Lyan. There is no lack of ideas: chocolate pastilles in jars are offered, only hot milk or cream should be poured onto it, and the hot chocolate is done. They also offer chocolate blocks pinned onto wands in wild tastes: cappuccino, Irish whiskey, orange-brittle or Amarena cherry.

Artisan Christmas fondants are also made in the workshop on Kinizsi street: in the tastes of rum punch, eggnog, chestnut, truffle cream, Baileys.

Christmas advice: the beer, wine or pálinka sweeties can make a hit among the male relatives who are not easy to gift; they also offer one of the widest range of Christmas fondants.

Lyan Chocolate Manufacture: 11 Kinizsi Street, Budapest 1092

Beauties from Gyula: Cadeau Bonbon Boutique

Cadeau means gift in French. Although sweets are not the first thing that come to our mind when thinking of Gyula, the locals are proud of their hundreds of years old confectioner traditions, and they should be: Kézműves Confectionery was the ancestor of Cadeau established by László Balogh. The confectionery celebrates its 25th birthday next year – it was a forerunner of today’s artisan trends.

Photo: Cadeau / Facebook

The international profession picked up on them, two of their bonbons – Figaro and Málna Mánia (Raspberry Mania) – won a gold at International Chocolate Awards last year.

After Kézműves and Százéves (a hundred years old) Confectioneries, Cadeaus was founded in 1998, and opened their chocolatiers in Budapest, Kecskemét and Székesfehérvár. Mainly the premium-quality chocolate of Belgian Callebaut factory is used, but a completely unique concept was made this year: Cadeau Grand Cru wants their own-developed chocolate, which was tested in the Or’Noir laboratory in France with Ghanaian and Ivory Coast cocoa beans.

Christmas advice: Cadeau’s Miraculous hind-selection, with 100 pieces, is an exclusive gift, a limited bonbon-set, in a beautiful box, including the pieces from the own-developed Grand Cru. The selection contains 20 different tastes and is available only this Christmas season.

Cadeau Chocolatiers: 8 Veres Pálné Street Budapest 1053, 2 Korona Street Kecskemét, 23 Mátyás király boulevard Székesfehérvár.

Demeter Chocolate

Their premium chocolate appeared on the market four years ago and, similarly to Cadeau, they also had a confectionery first. Their devotion of chocolate and the endless experiments were rewarding, their chocolate can be bought in 30 places in Hungary and they won two prestigious awards this year.

Photo: kezmuvescsoki.com

It is not known whether the jury of International Chocolate Awards awarded the packaging too or only the dessert itself, but it is also worth mentioning. The elegant gold label and red hemispheres on black base treat the eyes, too. The white chocolate shell hides strawberry filling and its secret is the lemongrass – it was awarded with a bronze. The 400 members of the jury at Great Taste Awards in London, including famous restaurant critics and Michelin-star chefs, voted for the classification for Demeter’s Zserbó bonbon, marking its premium being. The chocolate including berries excels from the goodies of Demeter, the red and black currant and raspberry sweets, are great gifts for the ones who are fond of white chocolate.

It is not a question for people in Kiskunlacháza where to go for super chocolate – this is where the Demeter family lives – but they can be found in 9 stores in Budapest and 18 stores around the country. Their chocolate can be bought from their web-shop, too.

Christmas advice: their Christmas fondant with popping candy is great for kids and the two kinds with pálinka are great for the adults: it is worth counting how many we have already eaten, the one with honey and raspberry, and the other with Szatmár plum.

Demeter Chocolate: 125 Dózsa György Street Kinkunlacháza

Harrer Chocolat

Harrer calls itself a “chocolate empire” for a reason. The Austrian-Hungarian married couple, Karl Harrer and Beatrix Harrer-Abosi created their workshop on the Austrian-Hungarian border, where the chocolate-wonders have been made for seven years. The workshop and the sweets can be described as modern, clean and precise, they are creating bold (black pepper dark chocolate), funny (with popping candy) and nice chocolate (Thank you and I love you chocolate) but the thing is that they improved their silky chocolate texture to a level that even their simple milk chocolate (such as Java made of cocoa beans from Java) is a great experience. Harrer’s Special Milk is an even greater experience.

Photo: Harrer Chocolat / Facebook

Christmas advice: Christmas-tasted goodies can be found among their supply, such as gingerbread milk chocolate and chocolate bars filled with mulled wine. If we want to gift something especially typical of Harrer, then a piece of the Luka wine chocolate series should be chosen, which hide the merlot, cabernet and blue Frankish wines of Luka winery in Sopron.

Harrer Chocolat: 4 Faller Jenő Street, Sopron

Copy editor: bm

Source: travelo.hu