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Choc full of it

October 25, 2019 | Michael Turtle | 30 Comments

FOOD EXPERIENCE

The Perugina chocolate factory

Who knew that making chocolate would be so filthy!

It’s only when I look down to see my hands covered, my shoes with drips on them and my apron smeared with brown traces of fingers, that I realise there is no clean way to do this.

I’m having a chocolate-making lesson in the Perugina factory, the home of the famous Baci chocolates. A romantic kiss for some… for me, more of a dribbling mess.

They say you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs. It seems you can’t make a chocolate without first splattering it on everything nearby.

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

“Now we get our bowl,” our expert chef Massimilano Guidubaldi instructs us.

“And we pour everything out onto the table.”

With his thick Italian accent and slightly broken English, I’m convinced I’ve misheard the maestro. But he leads by example, emptying his bowl of melted chocolate onto the bench and using two kitchen tools to spread it and then condense it.

It’s almost like kneading bread except it leaves a brown hardening mess on the bench each time.

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

I try to follow each of his instructions closely. I pour my dark chocolate into a mould of 40 small holes, I fill them each with a white chocolate filling I’ve mixed with limoncello and lemon rind, I cover it all up with another layer of dark chocolate, and then put it in the fridge to set.

The whole process has taken well over an hour by the time I retrieve the finished product.

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

“Very perfect,” Guidubaldi tells some other members of the class.

I look at my chocolates and try to pre-empt his judgement. One or two have cracked on the way out of the moulds. Most of them have air bubbles – cursed with pockmarks across their dark skin.

But it’s all about the taste, right?

I surreptitiously pop one into my mouth and am pleased with the richness of the dark chocolate and the sweet acidity of the lemon filling.

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

I’d you ask me, it’s a success. A new Willy Wonka has been born (without the small creepy slaves).

The chocolate recipe

For those following along at home, I’ve got the recipe for you. Remember, though, there’s an art to this and even under the supervision of one of Italy’s finest chocolate chefs, it was hard work.

Ingredients:

  • Cream – 35g
  • Grated lemon peel
  • Perugina white chocolate – 120g
  • Butter – 20g
  • Limoncello Liquer – 20g
  • Perugina dark chocolate – lots

Instructions:

  • Boil the cream with the lemon peel
  • Add the grated white chocolate
  • Add the butter and finally the liquer
  • Cool to 28 degrees celcius
  • Warm up the dark chocolate
  • Make a shell of dark chocolate in the moulds
  • Fill with the white chocolate mix, then close with dark chocolate
  • Refrigerate for 10 minutes

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

The Italian kiss

The location for my chocolate lesson, the Perugina factory in Perugia, is now owned by Nestle and is the multinational’s Italian base. It’s still best known for its Baci chocolates, though.

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

“Baci is something else,” one of the factory’s workers puts it. “Italians have something to remember – that is the love of the baci.”

Every day of operation, more than one and a half million Baci chocolates are made here at Perugina. But that’s only a fraction of the 120 tons of chocolate that flows through the pipes and vats each day. The company has come a long way since it first opened in 1922.

perugina factory, chocolate factory, perugia, baci chocolates, Umbria, Italy

Italians are rightly proud of their chocolate. They weren’t the first in the world to make it but they have turned it into an art form.

It’s part of the local culture and it was interesting to hear that the countries which are the biggest importers of Baci chocolates are those with the largest Italian populations.

A kiss, it seems, never means arriverdeci.

>> You can see the factory's website here <<

Time Travel Turtle was a guest of the Umbria Regional Tourism Board but the opinions, over-written descriptions and bad jokes are his own.

Reader Interactions

    Comments Cancel reply

  1. William |

    April 30, 2012 at 8:10 pm

    Reply

    I would love to experience taking lessons like that! On another note, thanks for the recipe!

    • Michael Turtle |

      April 30, 2012 at 9:23 pm

      Reply

      Let me know if you ever try out the recipe. I’m curious to see how it goes outside of the professional kitchen 🙂

  2. Angela |

    April 30, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    Reply

    I love chocolate, and Baci Perugina are some of my favorite since EVER 🙂

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 9:50 pm

      Reply

      I think they’re a favourite chocolate for a lot of people. There were whole bowls of them at this factory – amazing!!

  3. Gaelyn |

    May 1, 2012 at 12:08 am

    Reply

    You just can’t go wrong with chocolate, pretty or not.

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 9:50 pm

      Reply

      I have to confess that the chocolate I licked off my fingers was just as good as the final product! 🙂

  4. Akila |

    May 1, 2012 at 12:56 am

    Reply

    Nice recap of the tour! And it was great meeting you last week!

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 9:55 pm

      Reply

      Thanks, lovely meeting you too. All your food photos from the trip are going to make me want to go back and eat everything all over again!! 🙂

  5. Stephanie - The Travel Chica |

    May 1, 2012 at 1:11 am

    Reply

    I am so jealous! Love how messy it is 🙂

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 9:57 pm

      Reply

      Ha ha… yeah, I would’ve picked you as a chocolate-lover 🙂

  6. Nate @yomadic |

    May 1, 2012 at 1:17 am

    Reply

    So what was Guidubaldi’s verdict on your chocolates?

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 9:58 pm

      Reply

      Umm… well, that’s not really important now, is it? The important thing is that I thought they were tasty. And really, at the end of the day, the real winner was chocolate.

      • Nate @yomadic |

        May 1, 2012 at 10:48 pm

        Reply

        😉

  7. The Time-Crunched Traveler (Ellen) |

    May 1, 2012 at 6:27 am

    Reply

    What a mess — but this is one time I wouldn’t mind 🙂

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 10:00 pm

      Reply

      Only because it’s not your own kitchen!! 🙂

  8. Nomadic Samuel |

    May 1, 2012 at 9:59 am

    Reply

    I could easily make a mess with that 😛

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 1, 2012 at 10:01 pm

      Reply

      It was pretty hard not to make a mess! After a while it was actually part of the fun (although I’m still discovering drops of chocolate on my jeans… oops).

  9. Angie Away |

    May 4, 2012 at 1:02 am

    Reply

    I’m finally out of chocolates… and out of Italy. I’d guess the weight should start to drop off any moment…

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 5, 2012 at 5:56 am

      Reply

      My gosh, I don’t want to even think about how many kilos I’ve put on since I’ve been here. The chocolate is probably the least of my worries… it’s the daily pizza I should be concerned about.

  10. Laurel |

    May 10, 2012 at 7:11 pm

    Reply

    This looks like fun. I tasted the end result, the lemon one and it was delicious.

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 12, 2012 at 6:18 pm

      Reply

      Oh, I’m glad you got a chance to taste it. They were so delicious!

  11. Umbria on the Blog |

    May 29, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    Reply

    I did this lesson with my seven and ten-year-old sons, and I think they made a slightly smaller mess 😉 Looks like you had fun!

    • Michael Turtle |

      May 30, 2012 at 5:32 am

      Reply

      Ha ha – I bet the kids only made less mess because they were eating more of it as they went along!! 🙂

  12. Mary @ Green Global Travel |

    June 14, 2012 at 6:51 am

    Reply

    I’m so glad you included the photo of you licking your fingers because that’s exactly what I would be doing. I tried licking the photos on the computer screen, but it’s not very tasty.

    • Michael Turtle |

      June 15, 2012 at 11:14 pm

      Reply

      Ha ha. I’d love to see you try to explain why you were licking the computer screen if someone walked in on that! 🙂

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This is the website of travel writer, Michael Turtle. After working in broadcast journalism for a decade in Australia, Michael left Sydney to travel the world indefinitely and write about the places, people and experiences he discovers. This isn't a diary - these are real stories from the world.

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