Swiss chocolate?

My fiancee recently returned from a business trip in Switzerland, and brought me an outstanding tin of chocolates... I'm at work right now and don't have the tin, but I believe the manufacturer was "Sprungli".

Surprisingly there aren't many mom & pop chocolate shops in Switzerland like you would find in Belgium. Lindt, Tobler, and Nestle can be easily purchased at most any supermarket here in the US. Cailler makes for a better gift. A lot or souvenir shops have brands of chocolate that are marketed to tourists with "local" sounding names on the wrappers, but I suspect these made by Nestle or one of the other big companies.

Nearly everything I saw there I can buy at Wal Mart here. I already knew that about most brands I saw but when I found Ritter Sport (don't know which country makes them but they are great), I was so excited.

Oh gosh, this is probably useless as far as advice goes, but I'm now going crazy trying to remember the name: When I was a kid I had a Swiss friend who would always bring me back the chocolate eggs with the toys in them. I can't for anything remember what they're called... But as a cheap gift for kids, they can't be beat! I still have a little collection of the tiny toys.

Bethany,

you're thinking of Kinder Surprise Eggs (Ferrero). They are available in Canada but not for sale in the US because the mix of food and toy doesn't conform with FDA rules.

Ritter Sport is a wafer cookie from Germany sold in the USA in a number of stores. It's not as tasty or fresh as the original, Manner (of Vienna)which is carried in America by CostPlus and better confectionary shops. Another good alternative is Loacker (of South Tirol) with a variety of flavors. Find it at CostPlus and Trader Joe.

Europeans prefer Hazelnuts and Coffee, BTW. Americans are stuck on Chocolate.

Almost forgot - my preferred Swiss chocolate is Suchard, with Bensdorp (Austrian brand) close behind.

Hi, When we were in Switzerland, I was in the Co-Op grocery store. I found Co-Op brand chocolate bars with nuts in them. They had other types also. I took them home before I tried them. They were great. I sure wish I had bought more. Now every time I think of chocolate I wish I had some. My guess is that this is a brand that is more eaten by the Swiss people and not marketed to the tourists. If you get a chance give them a try.

If you are in Zurich, or passing through the train station, I recommend Sprungli. They are owned by Lindt, but it is more of a specialty store. Their truffe de jour almost melts in your mouth. They are made fresh that day and it is recommended that you eat them the same day that you buy them. You can also buy their regular truffels that last longer. Right now lindt has several different bars out that are seasonal that may be different than what people can get in the States. You can find those at the Coop.

I'm not sure about the rest of the country, but here in the northeast US, Lindt has its own stores in most every mall, they seem to carry most everything one can find in Switzerland. Even the supermarkets in these parts carry a large selection of Lindt.

I used to think that Sprungli was the absolute best chocolate that I had ever tasted...until someone gave me a giftbox of Teuscher Chocolates http://www.teuscher.com/

I love everything chocolate, and I have done my share of chocolate shopping in Coops, but if you want the absolute best you should give this one a try.

The chocolate eggs with toys in them are a potential confiscation item so enjoy them there but don't expect to bring them home as gifts.

In the U.S. they are considered a choking hazard so aren't allowed to be imported.

Our daughter loved them when we were in Europe. Unfortunately, if someone chokes in the U.S., it's someone else's fault. Everyone gets sued, the store, the government, the doctor - easier to just ban any toy that doesn't pass the choke test. The eggs are considered really bad because they are ingested.

Sometimes I'm amazed we were able to live at all before all the government regulations to keep us from hurting ourselves.

In the Zurich Duty free store at the airport we bought Swiss chocolates that were excellent. The name was Villers and it was dark chocolate with 30% hazelnuts. We should have bought alot more as we went through them very quickly. They came 2 to a package and were around 1/2 pound each. I would highly recommend them. I seem to recall the price was 10 swiss francs ( $10 us) for the 2.

You can't go wrong with any brand of Swiss Chocolate, but my prefer brand is Frey, I know Migros sells it in their stores.
Mark

I agree with the Sprungli recommendation; in addition, i am a huge fan of chocolate and hazelnuts and just LOVE Ragusa. Now...I am not positive that they are Swiss bars--but Switzerland is the only place I have seen them!

We found that the best place to buy chocolate was in the supermarkets. Huge selection, and while some of the names of the products were not familiar, the fine print told us they were made by all the big chocolate companies, Nestlé, Lindt, etc.

I've brought Kinder Surprise Eggs home several times with no problems. A couple of times it was from Ireland, and last year it was from Spain, via London.

Thanks everyone for the delicious suggestions! We definitely have lots to try. I'll be looking for Kinder Surprise Eggs for sure! Never had Sprungli nor Frey, so definitely eager to try them, too. Thanks again, you are all so sweet :-)

I have brought Kinder Eggs in many times without any problem.

Martin,

The Ritter Sports chocolate that I ate in Europe and that Wal Mart sells is NOT a wafer cookie. Wal Mart DOES have the hazlenut milk chocolate, a dark chocolate and a white chocolate. Maybe it isn't as "fresh" but it tasted just the same to me.

I had keyed on Ritter Sports chocolates because that is the brand that I kept seeing recommended on this forum.

Ritter Sport comes in all kinds of bars. My favorite in germany was a dark chocolate with raisins and nuts I know it's not exported, but lots of others are. I can get them in my local grocery.

Pam

I was just in Switzerland visiting relatives and brought back chocolate. The Cailler Dessert and Camille Bloch Torino are great. Also Frey Tourist (dark or milk chocolate)

I love Milka, but more a milk choclate liker. Milka was orginally Swiss but is now US. Now if they would sell Milka in the US.

Kinder Eggs are from an Italian company, they have bars with grains which are OK, not really that good of a chocolate. BTW they are illegal in the US for two reasons, the toys are to small and are considered a choking hazards for the age the eggs are meant for, also you cannot sell food products in the US where the food is wrapped around a non-food item.

The Cailler chocolate is great. We stocked up on it as we left Switzerland. There are many different Ritter Sports chocolate and non-chocolate in Germany than what is available in the US. I have even checked online for some Ritter bars I had in Germany. I'm still craving for some some bite size chocolate/orange cookies I had in Germany. I've checked CostPlus, Trader Joes, online, and can't find them any where. Check out the grocery stores and also the airport and those travel stops along the highways. Great buys and usually lots of varities. I'm getting hungry!!!

Fererro, though originally Italian, has factories all over the world including almost every country in Europe. They started in Italy in the 40's and then began their 1st international factory in Germany in 1957. They make all kinds of yummy chocolate things, Kinder Chocolate, Nutella, Chocolate covered cherries with alcohol inside, and including of course the Kinder Eggs. My personal favorite is Rafaello, a chocolate covered hazelnut with a chocolate cream filling too.
I have never heard of anyone having problems bringing the Kinder Eggs back to the states. In fact I know people who will buy a whole flat of them to take. Be aware that they often don't sell them here in the summer, due to melting problems.

When on the tour we stopped at a autogrill type place and our tour guide grabbed about 10 of these chocolate bars, exclaiming " oh this is the best stuff" . There is so much and it all looks the same to me.. so I only grabbed about 5 bars...

I kick myself now. I bought Cailler, I bought Lindt, I bought a few other types ,, but the BEST was in fact the FREY bars the tour guide liked. And it was difficult to find, I continued to look for it after I tried it and didn't see it again. !!

Kindereggs are sold in Canada, have been for years, I have never heard of a kid choking on them? I also do not understand the food/ toy rule as toys are regularily put in boxes of breakfast cereal right??

Ritter bars are also sold here.

One of my favorites I found was in the local Coop-Migros (grocery store). It is in bite size blue wrapper and has Swiss landscape scenes printed on them.

When I lived in Switzerland I looked forward everyday to my 4pm coffee and little chocolate.

Callier is the local favorite and tastes much more fresh than what you can purchase in the States.