Sweet-zerland
MILLIE: Switzerland is known for quality Swiss watches, cheese and — aaaah — chocolates! For me, the Swiss make the best chocolates in the world!
When my friend Bernard Douchet was organizing a reunion with my schoolmates from the Ecole Hoteliere de Lausanne, he sent a proposed program that included a visit to the famous cheese-making town of Gruyere and the chocolate factory of Cailler in Broc, approximately an hour away from Lausanne. Instantly, I decided to bring Karla along on the trip but did not tell her until a week before so it came to her as a big surprise.
KARLA: It was indeed a big surprise considering we already went on a big trip this year to the US last March-April. I’m sure mom decided to bring me along as her personal photographer and to carry her baggage. Haha! I was actually looking forward to staying home since there’s a lot of work to be accomplished, but when mom read out the itinerary of the reunion, plus we finally got our visas, how could I pass up the food trip of a lifetime? So off we went to Toblerone country.
My family is big on chocolates. I remember how my lola, who was a diabetic, would secretly hoard chocolates and hide them in different places. Haha! When I would accompany her to the grocery, she would buy so much chocolate and justify that she would give packs to my cousins. My lolo, on the other hand, was not a diabetic but enjoyed sweets, mostly chocolates. Whenever someone would give mom and I candies or chocolates as gifts or giveaways from events, we would always give them to lolo. He had a whole cabinet to hide his chocolates and the only person who knew about it aside from me and my mom was my youngest cousin, Benjo. No wonder he would always hang out in lolo’s room after school or whenever he had free time.
MILLIE: The visit to the chocolate factory of Cailler was very interesting. We were briefed about the history of Maison Cailler and shown the different stages of chocolate production. But the last stage was the most enjoyable one as we were made to enter a room where maybe over 20 varieties of Cailler chocolates were not only laid out on display but also presented for actual tasting! I recall making everyone go ahead of me so I could slowly taste each and every variety. My favorite was, undoubtedly, Frigor, and it does not matter if it is milk or dark, I like them both. My other favorite is the white Galak, always so creamy and delightful. One does not see this often so whenever I spot it, I always grab a dozen bars.
KARLA: The chocolate tasting room actually had a whole spread of different kinds of Cailler chocolates that you could freely get from. It was like a chocolate buffet except that the end led to the exit. Like everyone else, I lined up and looked around to pick out the chocolates I wanted to try. When I was near the exit, I found mom on the other side of the room. She had not moved at all and kept popping chocolates into her mouth and letting people go in front of her so she could try everything and even have seconds and thirds. Haha! By the time she reached the exit, she was begging me to buy her bottled water as she was experiencing a chocolate overload.
For commercially made chocolate, my favorite milk chocolates are Cailler’s Frigor and Lindt’s Lindor. They are both thick, creamy and melt in your mouth. We have to put them in the refrigerator for it not to melt and before eating it, I let it temper for a while before popping it into my mouth. My favorite part about Lindor is when it’s not refrigerated, when I pop it into my mouth, I don’t bite into it; instead, I press it with my tongue. As soon as I do, I get this warm, gooey liquid, which is actually the melted core of the chocolate Lindor balls. Frigor, on the other hand, is less sweet and oily than Lindor, maybe because they contain cocoa butter and no other non-cocoa fat. A unique recipe since 1923, Frigor is made with cacao and lightly roasted nuts and almonds.
The tour ended and started at the Boutique Cailler or chocolate shop. Right smack in the middle was a stack of Frigor on sale at a 50 percent discount. We went crazy and bought a suitcase-full to take home to family and special friends. We learned that there was a chocolate train that could take us on a tour to visit Gruyere and the chocolate factory. In case you can’t go all the way to Gruyere, you can find Frigor bars in the supermarket. In fact, as we were walking on Rue du Bourg in Lausanne, I found a store that was selling Frigor ice cream and just needed to grab a cup. Here in the Philippines, Frigor is available at Santi’s.
MILLIE: Everywhere we went in Switzerland, we would go to chocolate specialty shops, each one with a unique story to tell. We visited Sprungli and Teuscher, both in Zurich. We also checked out Blondel in Lausanne and discovered a chocolate house in the middle of wine country in Bougy-Villars named Tristan. We came to see what new items they had to offer and sometimes, have a bite or two. Since we had limited baggage space, we could not take home all the chocolates and cheese we would have wanted. Instead, we took home unwanted pounds and it’s quite an effort now to shed it off, so diet and exercise are in order for the next few weeks.
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