| Founded: | 1948 |
| Headquarters: | Roanne, France |
| Style: | primarily Old School |
| Characteristics: | A firebrand: extremely dark reputation for roasting just short of scorching. Before Pralus, the roaster was considered the “chocolate hearth”. Pralus pretty much abandons that for the fire itself in a testament to Bukowski’s maxim that ‘what counts most in life is how you walk thru the flames’. Spelled out by French thinker Gaston Bachelard, fire occupies a privileged position: “It shines in Paradise. It burns in Hell. It’s gentleness & torture. It’s cookery & apocalypse”. |
| Ferment: | variable |
| Roast: | perhaps the deepest roaster, period. |
| Conche: | generally long |
| Impact: | Spans the world farther & wider than just about anyone, going to the ends of the Earth to source cacáo of different origins, & applies a robust French or even espresso-level roast to each & every one of them – an equalizer of sorts that allows for easier comparisons between origins in his Gran Tasting Tour of chocolate. |
Crown Jewels
