In 1857 Jean Neuhaus opened a pharmacy in the prestigious Brussels Royal Saint Hubert galleries. To give his medicine a better taste, he put a thin layer of chocolate around it. Jean Neuhaus Jr., inherited his father's passion for chocolate and came up with the ingenious idea to use a delectable soft filling instead of the medicine. That is how the praline was created in 1912.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
In addition, Louise Agostini, the wife of Jean Neuhaus Jr., created in 1915 the first 'ballotin', a gift box with a ribbon around it, in which the chocolates were sold. The Belgian pralines were presented as a real treat.
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| Picture by Pixabay |
In the following years, the praline in Belgium boomed when chocolatier Charles Callebaut discovered in 1925 how he could transport liquid chocolate. Ten years later, Basile Kestekidès (a relative of the founder of Leonidas) created the legendary Manon: a large praline based on buttercream with coffee flavor, with a layer of white chocolate around it. That delicious delicacy is still popular today.