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THE EXPERTISE OF THE CACAOFÈVIER®

The CLUIZEL Manufacture is unique among independent French family businesses in its complete mastery of the process of transforming the cocoa bean into cocoa paste and then into premium dark, milk or white chocolate. In the absence of a recognised designation for this skilled profession, the company named it “cacaofèvier®”, which means cocoa-bean processor.

The CLUIZEL Manufacture has developed a qualitative approach to its supply chain. The brand guarantees a uniform purchasing price and working conditions that respect the individual. By forgoing the use of intermediaries and defining detailed guidelines with partners for the rigorous selection of beans, it is able to ensure maximum traceability, both in terms of agricultural practice and the quality of the raw material.

Each terroir thus brings its own distinctive features to the chocolate originating from it. This strong sense of identity accounts for the unique characteristics of CLUIZEL products that engage all the senses.

The confectioner's secrets

All the CLUIZEL Manufacture’s recipes are developed in the Damville lab , which is home to a permanent team of staff working to create new flavours.

Its fillings are the result of painstaking work carried out using carefully selected premium raw materials.

The CLUIZEL Manufacture’s leading product - the traditionally made praline with its unmistakable flavour - is therefore produced using almonds and whole hazelnuts that are calibrated and cooked in copper pans with caramelised sugar. In keeping with traditional practice, they are then ground slowly using granite millstones, ensuring that the flavours of the nuts and sweet caramel are blended together perfectly.

The complete mastery of the confectioner's art allows the production of an array of pralines and other fillings, as well as a wide range of chocolates with exceptional fillings.

The manufacture of traditional-style praline is an ancient skill that has been passed down through the generations.

Meticulous care goes into the selection of whole and calibrated nuts. The CLUIZEL Manufacture is more concerned with the aromatic potential of its nuts than their specific provenance.

The nuts and sugar are cooked over an open flame in large red-copper pans until they caramelise.

During the cooking process, they are constantly mixed to ensure that the flavours develop evenly. The length of cooking time determines whether the final product will have a more fruity or toasted intensity. Our confectioners’ experience enables them to precisely control the cooking process for each of our recipes.

Once cooked, the mixture is spread out on large metal trays. This allows it to cool slowly and naturally, ensuring that the sugar does not come into contact with any moisture.

At this stage, the praline caramel is extremely hard and we therefore grind it using a traditional granite millstone. A second grinding stage is needed for the finest-textured pralines.

THE ART OF THE CHOCOLATIER

As Marc Cluizel likes to remind us: “You initially choose a chocolate with your eyes.” This is why the Manufacture’s craftsmen spend as much time on the appearance of the products as on developing the recipes themselves.

Thus, like a silversmith, they skilfully assemble the precious ingredients, covering them in a fine layer of high-quality chocolate before embellishing them by hand so as to please the eye. There are up to 10 different stages in the creation of a single chocolate, each one offering the balance of a delicate flavour.

The CLUIZEL Manufacture also produces many hand-decorated moulds featuring exclusive designs, as well as all kinds of specialist products (chocolate bars, fine tasting palets) and gourmet products (chocolate bars, coated nuts and dried fruit, liqueurs etc.).

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THE MASTERY OF THREE TRADES