As regular readers may have already noticed, I try to switch up the topics of the things I cover in this blog, to try to keep it interesting. So, for the odd food and beverage posts I attempt to not do, say, two alcoholic drinks in a row, or two products from the same country in only a short amount of time. Anyway, it's been an appropriately long enough time since I talked about a cookie or biscuit, and since I featured something from Belgium. So here we are. Today's focus is from the Belgian Delacre company--their Marquisette cookie.
Delacre was started by a man named, not shockingly, Charles Delacre. Delacre was a pharmacist by trade. However, he decided to specialize in making chocolates, going so far as to open a "chocolate laboratory" in 1873. The business was successful very quickly--by 1879 Delacre was named an official supplier to the Royal Palace of Belgium, which it has maintained up through the present. In 1891 Charles decided to diversify a bit by starting to make and market pastries, starting with the Pacha Delacre biscuit. I wasn't able to find out much about the company's size or current staff. One business website named only a Alberto Cavalleris, but I couldn't confirm elsewhere if he's the CEO, or President, or something else. The total number of employees is estimated at being between 500-999. I also was kind of amused to read on the official company website that Delacre products are distributed to "about 12 countries." I understand some vagueness when your company is available in like 100 or more nations, but they can't figure out the exact number when it's only around 12? (For the record, another business website listed some of these countries where you can buy Delacre wares--Canada, the U.S., Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, the U.K., and China. Plus I'm assuming Belgium, since it would be weird if a Belgian company with a Royal supplier contract didn't otherwise sell their stuff in their home country.) Looking at the available products on the Delacre website, the majority of them are biscuits/cookies, and not chocolate candies. Although most of their cookies have chocolate in them, so there is that. Aside from the type I tried, other popular selections include their Roule d'Or, Nordica, White Heart, Belize, and Biarritz, to name a few. Also, for chocolate purists, the Delacre chocolate used conforms to Belgian law, which mandates that the percentage of cocoa used must be at least 35%. Finally, I figured "marquisette" was a common type of Belgian cookie, but apparently not. Yet another online source claimed that this name is trademarked by the Delacre company. I also assumed that "marquisette" meant something like "a little marquis," as in the rank of royalty, but that's apparently false. The definition I read was that it's a type of fine, gauzy fabric, made from cotton, used to make clothing, curtains, and mosquito nets. I guess the cookies are also seen as being fine and delicate, and/or perhaps the wavy shape is supposed to evoke a piece of this fabric.
Delacre Marquisettes: These were kind of barbell or oval shaped, about 2.5 inches by 1.5 inches (or about 6.5 cm. by 4 cm.). Their color was brownish-yellow, with a dark brown chocolate coating on the two ends. The texture was crunchy. The biscuit itself was nicely sweet, and the chocolate was good, too. The box said it was dark chocolate, but I didn't find it to be unpleasantly bitter, as I often do with this kind of chocolate. I often criticize European cookies/biscuits for being too bland and boring, but these were a happy exception. I enjoyed the Marquisettes, and would recommend them.
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