The full story behind the price of Valrhona's chocolate.

 

Today, let’s cut to the chase and talk prices. I promise - no false advertising or doublespeak here: we will tell you everything about the price of Valrhona chocolate. 

Overview: how much does chocolate cost? 

The price of baking chocolate you find in supermarkets ranges between AED 35 and AED 47 per kilo. At Valrhona, the price per kilo of couverture chocolate is around AED 170. So it’s understandable to have some questions about this! Why is Valrhona’s couverture chocolate more expensive than traditional baking chocolate? What justifies this price difference? Is it really worth spending that bit more on Valrhona chocolate? The answer to all these questions is yes, of course! Let us explain why:

Why is Valrhona chocolate more expensive than the baking chocolate found in supermarkets? 

First of all, at Valrhona, we carefully select the beans which go into our chocolate. As we explained in the article Choosing your chocolate, good cocoa beans are the key to good chocolate. In other words, a chocolate made with insufficiently fermented or poor quality beans will certainly be cheaper than a Valrhona chocolate, but it most likely will not be as good as ours!

To better understand this, let’s compare chocolate with wine: all wines are made from grapes and yet, in terms of flavor and price, not every wine is a Chateau Margaux. The reason behind this is the grape variety. The same goes for chocolate. Proof that at Valrhona, quality takes precedence over quantity: we are one of the world leaders in chocolate, yet we only buy 0.13% of global cocoa production. Why?  Because we are committed to selecting the best raw ingredients. 

The other reason for our higher prices is our desire to help create a better world. As a result, we build unique and lasting partnership relationships with our cocoa farmers. By ensuring fair pay, supporting them as they develop good agricultural practices and investing in projects to support local communities, we are asserting our position as a committed and responsible company. These values have given us the honor of receiving the B-CORP certification, which is awarded to companies that respect high social and environmental standards and are committed to progress, all on a worldwide level. Read our article to learn more about Valrhona’s B-CORP certification. 

Why is it better to bake using Valrhona couverture chocolate than with classic baking chocolate? 

Classic baking chocolate contains 26-31% cocoa butter. Couverture chocolate contains over 31%. The first advantage is that this high level of cocoa butter makes couverture chocolate smoother and easier to work with.

You will therefore notice that couverture chocolate melts better than traditional chocolate. Visually, its finish is smooth and syrupy, unlike classic baking chocolate, which tends to become thick and “stodgy”. After cooking and tasting, couverture chocolate also offers a more appreciable texture. Last but not least, if the world’s top pastry chefs work with Valrhona chocolate, it’s probably because it’s the best! 

What can I do if I can’t afford it? 

We understand that price can be a barrier. This is why we offer solutions to save you money on our products (with no drop in quality!) To get a 10% discount, order your chocolate here and choose for Click & Collect, a way of collecting your order from your nearest business! 

Another tip to save you money: save Valrhona chocolate for recipes where chocolate really plays the key role (fondants, mousses) because its aromas will be diluted if they are mixed with other flavors and ingredients (fruit, vanilla, caramel coffee, etc.) 

Finally, we also offer inexpensive gourmet chocolate recipes! A molten chocolate cake for less than one euro or a chocolate mousse that serves 4 people for less than 6 euros is possible! In fact, with only 145g of Guanaja 70% dark chocolate for a chocolate mousse and 125g of Caraïbe 66% dark chocolate to bake 6 to 8 chocolate coulants, the price of the raw ingredients needed for these recipes will be no higher than 6 euros! On the internet, you will find a multitude of recipes that suggest using a whole chocolate bar to make 6 fondants. At 2 euros per bar, it doesn’t work out that different to indulge yourself at a moderate cost, guilt-free! 

They can explain it better than us! 

Recently, we came across a blog post entitled: “Should I buy Valrhona chocolate?”. This was written by a cooking blogger who mentions that he did not write his article under a “sponsorship” agreement (we can confirm this!). We were curious to know the verdict of this pastry enthusiast, we analyzed his post and were not disappointed. Despite his earlier doubts, this baking enthusiast now seems to be a strong advocate for our products and we thank him for this. The delightful metaphor he uses when he describes his first tasting and compares a basic chocolate to our iconic Dulcey 35% and Caramélia 36% made our day: “These two chocolates have as much in common your regular chocolate as Jean-Jacques Rousseau has with Kim Kardashian: two parallel worlds that will never intersect.” 

We have always known this, but we are always happy to read an article like this one: our best ambassadors are home baking enthusiasts, everyday pastry chefs, cake lovers and chocolate lovers like you. Thank you for your trust and support!