Is Israel, despite the climate and local temperament, becoming a genuine consumer of fine chocolates? After all, pralines, which must be stored in a well-chilled space and very carefully arranged on trays, seem like the ultimate escape; wandering through the displays practically demands that visitors speak in whispers, as if in a museum.

The dramatic increase in Israel's consumption of imported chocolate indicates the answer is yes, and this prompted Valrhona Europe CEO Gerard Hugon to visit Israel last week to monitor the latest developments up close.

Valrhona, a leading processor of raw chocolate located near the city of Lyon, France, has been exporting products to Israel for the past five years. Last year, however, consumption here doubled, from 50 tons to 100 tons (still a low figure relative to Europe). Israeli chefs have been incorporating Valrhona chocolate into their menus, and have been traveling abroad to attend chocolate seminars at the company's school. Chocolatiers are melting it into pralines and chocolate truffles with personalized flavors.

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Hugon is not surprised by the local increase in fine chocolate consumption: "We have been distributing chocolate in Israel since 2001, and as far as we're concerned consumers here are acting in keeping with the worldwide trend toward greater sophistication. Chocolate contains not only cocoa solids, milk and sugar, but also everything else you put in it, and fusion cooking is contributing to the mixing of flavors."

According to Hugon, even Valrhona, a veteran company established in 1924, will feature some innovations in the coming year: "We are creating new flavors from new mixtures of beans and will soon launch two new flavors - Gran Couva, from beans grown on an island near Venezuela; and Palmira, from beans grown in Madagascar - with refined bitter tastes that contain the unique aroma of the growing region."

According to Valrhona's marketing manager in Israel, Eran Malki, the company is unique because it uses relatively rare beans that comprise only 15 percent of worldwide consumption: the cariolo and the trinitario. The beans are grown especially for the company in different countries using the terroire approach, which maintains that the type of soil and climate directly affect the chocolate's taste, just like with wine. "Therefore, beans grown in Venezuela differ from beans grown in Africa, for example," explains Malki.

Are we approaching the day when chocolate tasters, just like wine tasters, will detect dozens of flavors and nuances?

According to Malki, some are doing that already: "Two types of chocolate may contain 70 percent cocoa solids, and their flavors will be completely different because they're made from different beans. Today we have chefs coming to us and describing the dish they want to create, and we match the raw material to their needs."

The definition of "raw material" is a little misleading when referring the French chocolate, which is sold by weight in specialty shops. The cubes or discs taste delicious even before being melted and formed into truffles with bitter plums, or infused with brandy, for example. Or they may be wrapped in fruits that were steamed but not completely dried.

During his visit to Israel, Hugon visited prominent places that sell products made with Valrhona chocolates: the Chocolate shop and the Cardinal chocolate shop (whose grand opening he attended) on Ibn Gavirol Street in Tel Aviv, the Namal 24 restaurant in Haifa, and the Baracrula restaurant in the Kfar Sava industrial zone.

Eran Zarnitzky, the pastry chef at Baracrula, who formerly worked at the restaurant Mul Hayam, was one of the first chefs to attend the seminar at the Valrhona chocolate school in France. Zarnitzky hosted Hugon and served him a series of sophisticated desserts. Originally, when he could not find the hollow Valrhona chocolate balls in Israel, he began importing them for his own use. Now these items are available in specialty shops and being transformed into desserts with a variety of fillings.

"The Israeli is a curious, gourmet consumer and easily adapts to new flavors," says Hugon. He was speaking during a mid-October heat wave, which may be the chilled European praline's worst enemy. But this did not trouble him at all. The malls have air conditioning, and maybe we'll soon be seeing chocolate coolers alongside the wine refrigerators.