Cacao beans exist for one half throughout the famous cacao butter. The origin of the cacao tree is mainly Central and South-America. The tree needs a very tropical, warm and humid climate.  Belgian chocolate is considered to be the gourmet standard by which all other chocolate confections are measured. Even the Swiss, known for their own high quality chocolate, imported the basic recipe from Belgian chocolatiers. What makes Belgian chocolate unique is the quality of ingredients and an almost fanatical adherence to Old World manufacturing techniques. Even in today's world of automation and mass production, most Belgian chocolate is still made by hand  using original equipment. Belgian chocolate itself has been popular since the 18th century, but a new process created by Jean Neuhaus in 1912 increased its popularity ten-fold. Neuhaus used a special version of chocolate called "couverteur" as a cold shell for what he called pralines .These pralines are not the same as the sugary treats offered in a lot of candy shops. Belgian chocolate pralines could be filled with a variety of flavoured nougats or creams, such as coffee, hazelnut, fruit or more chocolate. Few other chocolatiers in Neuhaus' day could duplicate the complex flavours of his pralines. Many of the Belgian chocolate praline companies are still in operation today- Leonidas, Neuhaus, Godiva and Nirvana are famous for their gourmet pralines.

The praline is a tasty confection that is generally prepared with different types of nuts. There are several different ways of preparing pralines, but most recipes call for coating the nuts with a layer of caramel and rolling the nuts in a sugar mixture. This combination of sweets helps to provide a pleasing texture and snowy white coating that makes pralines a favourite around the holidays.

Different types of nuts may be used in the creation of praline treats. In many parts of Europe , hazelnuts and almonds are favourites to use in the making of holiday pralines. Many places in the world enjoy preparing pralines with the use of pecan halves. In some cases, cream is used as part of the basic recipe for making pralines, adding one more layer of flavour and texture to the finished product

One technical advantage Belgian chocolate has over other chocolatiers is the storage of couverteur before use. In the chocolate making process, the cocoa beans are ground and mixed with sugar and cocoa butter and then smoothed out through tempering (careful addition of heat). Most chocolate companies receive their chocolate in solid form, which means it must be reheated in order to be usable. Belgian chocolate companies often receive their couverteur in heated tanker trucks soon after the tempering process. Because the chocolate has not cooled, it retains much more of the aroma than the cooled varieties.