Prestat

All books on the history of chocolate identified 1902 as the year in which French émigré Antoine Dufour established Prestat. This is the date we have on all the Prestat boxes. We have since been given copies of some of Antoine Dufour's papers including notes on employees which show that he started recruiting as early as July, 1891, when he took on... a Monsieur Urech from Switzerland to make pralines. Of his first 16 employees hired up to Christmas 1894, five were French, three Swiss, two Belgian, two from Alsace (now part of France), one Italian, one Spanish and an Alexandre Huch who has no recorded nationality. It was, therefore, a thoroughly European enterprise. We don't know whether Antoine opened the Prestat shop at this earlier date or whether he began by making chocolates and patisseries for other businesses. We have decided, therefore, to keep 1902 as the official date of Prestat's establishment unless further evidence comes to light. There is no doubt, however, that Antoine was a highly proficient confectioner and chocolatier. Crystallising fruits was very much in vogue and he lovingly recorded his purchases of raspberries, strawberries, cherries, grapes and blackcurrants. We have his recipes for chocolate caramels, coffee caramels, Turkish delight, chocolate fudge, violet fondant, rose fondant and, of course, chocolate truffles. The chocolate truffle is recorded as first being created in Chambery, France, in December 1895 by a Louis Dufour. We believe that Louis was Antoine's brother and that the two siblings shared their knowledge and experience with Antoine crossing the Channel to London to take advantage of the growing popularity for fine chocolate in England. Prestat quickly became famous for its cocoa-dusted truffles, which Antoine Dufour introduced to England and named 'Napoleon III' after the 19th Century gourmand French emperor who spent several periods of exile in London with his loyal chef. On one occasion, the rotund emperor had lived in Carlton House off Pall Mall, now the official ...Read More