Julius Persoone & Alina Kulinicheva

Bite into a bright green praline from the latest collection by chocolatier Julius Persoone and taste... freshly mown grass. “To make that green ganache, our intern spent a whole week juicing grass,” says Julius. “We mix the juice with celery and apple for a praline that tastes the way it smells when you’ve just finished mowing your lawn.”

A fresh breeze sweeping through the world of chocolate

Pralines with homegrown tomatoes, caramelised shrimp heads and fermented mushrooms: Julius likes to think outside the box and that’s clear to anyone who sees the selection at his chocolate shop. He took over the business a few years ago from his father, Dominique Persoone, who gave him free rein. Traditional flavours hold no appeal for Julius. “I’m not interested in making sweet bonbons for grandma, I want each praline to be an experience.”

Moments later, the young chocolatier wanders through his fermentation lab where an endless array of pots are fermenting and bubbling. Here, he subjects parsnip, maize and celeriac juice to lacto-fermentation. This process produces intensely hearty flavours you wouldn’t immediately associate with chocolate, yet in Julius’ skilled hands, the results are amazing. It would be an understatement to say that a fresh wind is blowing through The Chocolate Line. Julius is a hurricane roaring through the world of chocolate.

“To me, a praline can only be considered a success when it inspires emotion. When a fellow chocolatier tasted our fermented tomato praline, tears came to his eyes. He was transported back to his Italian grandmother’s kitchen. It’s for such moments that I spend days experimenting in the workshop.”

From science to emotion

"My way of working is hyper-scientific, but the results are intensely emotional. That’s what interests me."

After training as a chef, Julius wished to perfect his mastery of the chocolatier’s craft before taking over at The Chocolate Line. To that end, he followed a course at the Melissa Coppel Chocolate School in Las Vegas. This gave Julius a chance to immerse himself in the science of chocolate. “For example, I know exactly how to play with the melting points of a praline’s various components. I can make you taste coriander first, then mango and finally coconut.

My way of working is hyper-scientific, but the results are intensely emotional. That’s what interests me.” In America, he also refined his attention to detail regarding his pralines’ appearance. “All my pralines are hand-decorated. For example, I created a galaxy-inspired collection where I painted each item myself. I also like to experiment with the colouring. When carrot juice ferments, the pigment floats to the top. I dry that orange substance and use it as a colouring agent for my pralines. In this way, I make my own natural colouring.”

The origin of chocolate

After his training, Julius set off to explore chocolate’s origins, working at The Chocolate Line’s cocoa plantation for several months. “Since 2012, we have had our own plantation in Mexico, where we grow the rare Criollo variety. The quality of the cocoa beans is exceptional. We roast them briefly at a low temperature to preserve the fruity acids that are naturally present in the cocoa. You can detect notes of apricot and roses in the chocolate. The industrial players use bulk cocoa roasted at high temperatures. The burned flavour masks the beans’ poor quality. As a result, you lose all nuance.” At the plantation, Julius experiment with crossing different types of cocoa. “I’m hoping to create my own unique variety. I live to do what no-one else is doing.”

Julius can concentrate on his creative efforts thanks to his girlfriend Alina, who handles the practical side. “If Julius decides he wants to make a yuzu praline, it’s up to me to source the best fruit.” The traceability of each praline is also her responsibility. “When we buy maize from a local farmer, that batch must be assigned a number so we can track all the ingredients for each praline. There’s much more to making pralines than creativity alone.”

"To me, a praline can only be considered a success when it inspires emotion."

The praline as a multi-layered dish

Julius’ appetite for experimentation and expertise are gaining him international attention. His team is a mix of top chefs, bakers and pastry chefs from all over the world who come to Bruges to work for the young master. “Because we don’t have traditional chocolatiers in our team, we tend to approach pralines as we would a whole dish - instead of one-dimensional flavours, they must contain layers. We can also rely on experts for each stage of the process. For instance, one of the former chefs from Kobe Desramaults’ renowned In De Wulf heads our fermentation workshop.

And if we want to use croissants in a praline, our team’s master baker will immediately start rolling out pastry.” The pralines are sold worldwide. Through the webshop, they make their way as far as Japan and the US. “We have designed special packaging for shipping the pralines. The only thing we won’t ship is the chocolate-covered marshmallow treats, those always arrive squashed flat,” laughs Julius.

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"Because we don’t have traditional chocolatiers in our team, we tend to approach pralines as we would a whole dish - instead of one-dimensional flavours, they must contain layers. "