Chocolates

There is a difference between 'chocolate', the general food product made from cacao beans, and 'chocolates', which describes confections made from chocolate, such as pralines, bonbons, truffles and so on. In 1912, Jean Neuhaus, a Belgian chocolatier invented the first hard chocolate shell, which he named couverture, enabling fillings of any kind and consistency (for example, soft caramel, cream, light ganache, liqueurs) to be used. Previously, only relatively solid centres such as nut pastes and caramels could be enrobed in chocolate.