Toblerone
Encyclopedia
Kraft Foods
Kraft Foods Inc. is an American confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It markets many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earn more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell House, Milka, Nabisco, Oscar Mayer, Philadelphia, Trident, Tang...
, who acquired the product from former owner Jacobs Suchard in 1990. It is well-known for its distinctive packaging, its prism shape (triangular prism
Triangular prism
In geometry, a triangular prism is a three-sided prism; it is a polyhedron made of a triangular base, a translated copy, and 3 faces joining corresponding sides....
or pentahedron
Pentahedron
In geometry, a pentahedron is a polyhedron with five faces. Since there are no face-transitive polyhedra with five sides and there are two distinct topological types, this term is less frequently used than tetrahedron or octahedron....
) and its ubiquity in duty-free shop
Duty-free shop
Duty-free shops are retail outlets that are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country...
s.
The triangular shape of the Matterhorn
Matterhorn
The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...
in the Swiss Alps
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....
is commonly believed to have given Theodor Tobler his inspiration for the shape of Toblerone. However, according to Theodor's sons, the triangular shape originates from a pyramid shape that dancers at the Folies Bergères created as the finale of a show that Theodor saw.
Toblerone was created by Theodor Tobler (1876 - 1941) and Emil Baumann in Bern, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
in 1908. They developed a unique milk chocolate including nougat
Nougat
Nougat is a variety of similar traditional confectioneries made with sugar and/or honey, roasted nuts , and sometimes chopped candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from soft and chewy to hard and crunchy depending on its composition, and it is used in a variety of candy bars and...
, almonds and honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
with a distinctive triangular shape. The product's name is a portmanteau combining Tobler's name with the Italian word torrone (a type of nougat). The image of a bear is hidden in the Matterhorn
Matterhorn
The Matterhorn , Monte Cervino or Mont Cervin , is a mountain in the Pennine Alps on the border between Switzerland and Italy. Its summit is 4,478 metres high, making it one of the highest peaks in the Alps. The four steep faces, rising above the surrounding glaciers, face the four compass points...
mountain symbolizing the town of its origin.
Theodor Tobler applied for a patent for the Toblerone manufacturing process in Bern in 1906. The Toblerone brand was trademarked in 1909, at the Federal Institute for Intellectual Property in Bern.
The Tobler company was independent for many years. In 1970, it merged with Suchard, the makers of Milka
Milka
Milka is a brand of milk chocolate manufactured by Kraft Foods. It is sold in bar form, in holiday shapes, and in a variety of specialty forms....
, to become Interfood. A merger with the Jacobs
Jacobs (coffee)
Jacobs is a brand of coffee that traces its beginnings to 1895 in Germany by Iohann Jacobs and is today marketed in Europe by Kraft Foods. Major markets are Austria, the Baltic countries, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Azerbaijan,...
coffee company in 1982 created Jacobs Suchard. Kraft acquired the majority of Jacobs Suchard, including Toblerone, in 1990.
Variations
Current versions are sold in countries across the world.
Since the 1970s, other versions of the Toblerone have been produced. These include:
- Plain chocolate – (dark chocolate) in a green or black triangular box
- White chocolateWhite chocolateWhite chocolate is a confectionery derivative of chocolate. It commonly consists of cocoa butter, sugar, milk solids and salt, and is characterized by a pale yellow or ivory appearance...
– in a white triangular box - Snow-Capped – editions with white chocolate peaks (also in a white/silver triangular box) --->
- Filled editions – milk chocolate with a white chocolate centre (blue triangular box)
- OneByOne – individually wrapped triangular chunks
- Toblerone PralinésPralinePraline is a family of confections made from nuts and sugar syrup.-Europe:As originally inspired in France at the Château of Vaux-le-Vicomte by the cook of the 17th-century sugar industrialist Marshal du Plessis-Praslin , early pralines were whole almonds individually coated in caramelized sugar,...
– released in 1997, a single peaked version in the distinctive yellow packaging - Fruit and Nut – in 2007 with a half purple triangular cardboard box
- Honeycomb crisp – with a half white box with honeycomb pieces pictured on it
- Berner Bär – 500 g milk chocolate bar, with a relief portrait of the Bernese Bear and the Coat of arms of Bern on its face. The only non-triangular Toblerone.
- Toblerone Tobelle - Toblerone thins in a yellow triangular box.
Sizes and peaks
Bar sizes range from ten centimetres to nearly one metre, all similarly proportioned. According to Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany the sizes and number of peaks for Toblerones are as follows:| Size | Tiny | Mini | 35 g | 50 g | 75 g | 100 g | 200 g | 400 g | 750 g | 4.5 kg | 102 kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peaks | 3 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 15 | 15 | 17 | 12 | 11 |
Manufacturing
Toblerone is today manufactured exclusively in the SwissSwitzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
city of Bern-Brünnen
Brunnen
Brunnen is a resort on Lake Lucerne in Switzerland, part of the municipality Ingenbohl , at .Brunnen has a cablecar that goes to the Urmiberg, a part of the Rigi offering wonderful views of Lake Lucerne and the Alps....
.
In the 1970s and 1980s, it was manufactured under license for the Yugoslav
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
market by Kraš
Kraš
Kraš is a Croatian food company based in Zagreb, specializing in confectionery products.The company traces its origins from two factories from the early 20th century - "Union", founded in 1911, the oldest surviving chocolate manufacturer in southeastern Europe - and "Bizjak", founded in 1923, which...
in Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
(present-day Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
).
The Toblerone affair
In 1995 it was revealed that the Swedish politician Mona SahlinMona Sahlin
Mona Ingeborg Sahlin is a Swedish politician and the former leader of the Swedish Social Democratic Party.Sahlin has been a Member of Parliament, representing Stockholm County, from 1982 to 1996 and again since 2002. She has also held various ministerial posts in the Swedish government from 1990...
had bought, among other things, two bars of Toblerone using her Riksdag
Parliament of Sweden
The Riksdag is the national legislative assembly of Sweden. The riksdag is a unicameral assembly with 349 members , who are elected on a proportional basis to serve fixed terms of four years...
credit card
Credit card
A credit card is a small plastic card issued to users as a system of payment. It allows its holder to buy goods and services based on the holder's promise to pay for these goods and services...
(i.e. taxpayer's money). This became known as the Toblerone affair. Sahlin was forced to step down as a candidate for the post as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Sweden
The Prime Minister is the head of government in the Kingdom of Sweden. Before the creation of the office of a Prime Minister in 1876, Sweden did not have a head of government separate from its head of state, namely the King, in whom the executive authority was vested...
. She returned to politics in 1998.
Similar products
A similar product is the Croatian product Kolumbo, made by factory KrašKraš
Kraš is a Croatian food company based in Zagreb, specializing in confectionery products.The company traces its origins from two factories from the early 20th century - "Union", founded in 1911, the oldest surviving chocolate manufacturer in southeastern Europe - and "Bizjak", founded in 1923, which...
from Zagreb. This chocolate is also composed of pyramids of hazelnuts and honey. Kraš was producing Toblerone under license during the 1970s and 1980s. Another comparable product is Mahony, produced by the company Chocolat-Frey AG in Switzerland.