South Africa’s most recognisable luxury chocolate brand, Lindt & Sprüngli are responsible for some of the most delectable confectionery in the world.
Lindt was started as a small confectionery store in the mid 1830’s by David Sprüngli-Schwarz and his son Rudolph in Zurich. The history of the chocolate we now consume from the confectioners was due to tenacity, diligent work and some good fortune.
David and his son persisted in their production of chocolate at that time mostly consumed as a drink and were soon able to open a small factory to increase production.
The quality of chocolate at the time was sub standard and bars were a chore rather then a treat. But the swiss persisted and finally a stroke of pure luck in 1897 gave Rodolphe Lindt a technique to make a smoother and softer chocolate that he called “Chocolat Fondant”.
Rodolphe’s invention of the “conching” method and the re-inclusion of the cocoa butter into the chocolate produced what so many were after. Silky, soft and smooth chocolate was a reality and sold by Rodolphe for the next twenty years.