born original

KEEP CRAFTING WITH THE ORIGINAL TASTE OF BELGIUM

Around the world, chefs & artisans create original flavours born from personal dreams, visions or ambitions. Born Original is a tribute to all chefs. Here, we bring together your inspiring stories. Your recipes. And your views.

Born Original magazine Fall 2024

Born Original magazine Fall 2024 out now!

From what fuels their dreams to what it takes to create them. This magazine is here to inspire you with stories about Born Original and Chocolate Academy chefs. It also gives you access to some of their most unique recipes.

STORIES

Born Original Sebastian Pettersson

FOCUSED TO THE BONE

SEBASTIAN PETTERSSON

Intimidating looks, yet a warm and friendly character. Sebastian Pettersson is a man of contrasts who thrives on coffee and chocolate and lives his dream.

born original Nicolas Nikolakopoulos

THE ALCHEMIST OF DREAMS

NICOLAS NIKOLAKOPOULOS

Greece isn’t an obvious country to become a pastry chef. So how could alchemist become an internationally praised pastry chef?

PART 1 - THE BEANS THAT MAKE THE CUT

Where do the cocoa beans for our chocolate come from? And what makes them special? Kirsten Tibballs takes you on our bean-to-bar tour.
PART 2 - QUALITY OF THE COCOA BEANS

We only use the best-grade cocoa beans. But what does this mean? And how do we select them? Kirsten Tibballs discovers it here.
PART 3 – COMPOSING OUR COCOA BEAN BLEND

How does a blend of 3 different types of bean define the original taste of our chocolate? Does that blend ever change? Kirsten Tibballs looks for the answers.
PART 4 – WHOLE BEAN ROASTING FOR THE WHOLE TASTE

What is whole bean roasting? What does it do for our chocolate taste? And why do we believe already for more than 100 years that it is the best way to roast the cocoa beans?
PART 5 – THE ORIGINAL COCOA LIQUOR: THE HEART & SOUL OF OUR CHOCOLATE

How do we get from roasted beans to cocoa liquor? And what exactly makes our cocoa liquor so fine? Kirsten Tibballs finds all the answers with our cocoa specialists.
PART 6 – QUALITY CHECKING THE TASTE OF THE COCOA LIQUOR

How do we know for sure the cocoa liquor will exactly yield the taste we're after for our chocolate? Kirsten Tibballs checks it out for you.

How to find the chocolate that tastes best and works best for your applications? Our lead chef Minette helps with great tips & tricks.