plaque à casser

English translation: chocolate to break

10:46 Oct 7, 2022

French to English translations [PRO]
Food & Drink / Chocolate

French term or phrase: plaque à casser

URGENT, please!
A certain chocolate manufacturer manufactures these — they are large 'sheets' of chocolate that are not scored like bars are, but designed to simply be broken up and sold in irregular pieces.
I've found 'break-up bars', but these are specifically smaller bars that are ready-scored to make them easier to break up; this is the opposite!

This website shows pictures of several examples — though I note here that these are still quite small bars, comparable to a 'normal' bar of chocolate:

https://diogovazchocolate.com/produit/plaque-a-casser-chocol...

Is this something peculiar to France and her neighbours? I've often seen 'broken bits' sold in sachets in chocolate shops.

Tony M KudoZ activity Questions: 333 (2 open) (30 closed without grading) Answers: 15219 France
Local time: 17:52

English translation:chocolate to break

Explanation:
Désolé, voici la version anglaise.

Selected response from:

Sandrine Rutter
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:52

Grading comment

Thank you very much! I did find several other makers using this term, and I don't think the concept really exists in the UK anyway.
In the end, I went for 'chocolate for breaking', which fitted better with the local syntax and the style of my document
3 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

3 +7

(breakable) chocolate bark

Mark Nathan

4 +1

smashable chocolate slab

Sarah Bessioud

Chocolat à casser

Sandrine Rutter

brisure(s) de chocolat

Renate Radziwill-Rall

(bulk) chocolat bark slab

Debora Blake

bar/slab

Yuna Guillamot

4 -1

chocolate to break

Sandrine Rutter

Discussion entries: 6

Answers

5 mins confidence:

Chocolat à casser

Explanation:
This is a trend which is fast growing in France and also in the UK where I live. Thorntons, Hôtel Chocolat and any good chocolate manufacturer now offers such ranges.

Example sentence(s):

https://www.lecomptoirdemathilde.com/fr/11-tablette-a-casser-de-chocolat-a-partager

Sandrine Rutter
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:52
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 3

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks! Yes, I know... but what is it called in EN?

Asker: Sorry, I had initially set the language pair the wrong way round!

12 mins confidence:

bar/slab

Explanation:
bar/slab seem to be rather interchangeable

https://www.thecocoabeancompany.com/product-category/chocolate-slabs/?orderby=price-desc

Yuna Guillamot
Türkiye
Local time: 18:52
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English,

French

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks! The problem is, i have to differentiate it from their usuall 'bars of chocolate' — and unlike a catering context, for example, this is quite thin (like an ordinary bar), so can't really be called a 'slab'.

31 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +7

(breakable) chocolate bark

Explanation:
Hi Tony,

I think "chocolate bark" is US English - the Internet abounds with recipes for how to make your own.
Or you could for a jeu de mots such as "Smashing chocolate".

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Note added at 35 mins (2022-10-07 11:22:24 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Maybe "gourmet chocolate bark" to differentiate it from the home-made variety.

Mark Nathan
France
Local time: 17:52
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 50

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks for your contribution. I don't doubt this might work in the US, but I can find no confirmation of it as a term used this side of the Pond, and particularly, by comparable chocolate manufacturers

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)

agree

philgoddard

36 mins

agree

Cyril Tollari: écorces de chocolat

45 mins

agree

James A. Walsh

53 mins

neutral

Rachel Fell: "smashing chocolate" sounds like the type I'd like to eat!

1 hr

agree

MoiraB: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/chocolate-bar... I think you can do without "breakable" - unless you've got a very large mouth ;-)

2 hrs

-> I like those little wooden hammers they sell with it, but can't imagine lack of a hammer would stop anyone eating chocolate.

agree

Yvonne Gallagher: Yep

9 hrs

agree

Sabrina Dugast

11 hrs

agree

Rafael Maia

2 days 10 hrs

disagree

Thomas Miles: The connotations of 'bark' suggest particularly thin, possibly curved pieces of chocolate.

2 days 20 hrs

agree

Wolf Draeger: Maybe 'whole' or 'unbroken' instead of breakable?

3 days 2 hrs

29 mins confidence:

brisure(s) de chocolat

Explanation:
-une certaine fabrication

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Note added at 36 mins (2022-10-07 11:23:43 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

You should make it clear in your question what language pair and what term you are looking for.

Renate Radziwill-Rall
France
Local time: 17:52
Native speaker of:

German,

French

Notes to answerer

Asker: Danke Renate! The problem is, this is describing the bar BEFORE it has been broken into pieces — and I am looking for the EN term.

50 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): -1

chocolate to break

Explanation:
Désolé, voici la version anglaise.

https://shop.labelgiquegourmande.com/gb/21-chocolate-to-break

Sandrine Rutter
United Kingdom
Local time: 16:52
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

French
PRO pts in category: 3

Grading comment

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks a lot, I think this is exactly the term I'm looking for!

2 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

smashable chocolate slab

Explanation:
I would refer to this as a chocolate slab - check out the links below:

https://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/ideas/how-to-make-chocolate-sla...
https://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/shop/collections/products/l...

The fact that these are sold intact would lead me to describe them as "smashable", indicating that these are intended to be smashed, rather than "breakable", which could imply their fragility (especially during delivery).

Sarah Bessioud
Germany
Local time: 17:52
Specializes in field
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 43

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks, Sarah! Sadly, as I've already explained above, these are in no way "slabs" And also, "smashable" simply isn't register-appropriate for this manufacturer's trade catalogue — although it would be an appealing term if this was retail marketing!

Asker: I remember when I was little some kind relative gave me a HUGE slab of CDM — but it was SO big, I could neither get my teeth into it, nor find any way of breaking bits off it! My resourceful Dad resorted to using a hacksaw!

3 days 5 hrs confidence:

(bulk) chocolat bark slab

Explanation:
"Our barks are slabs of fabulous chocolate that are filled with awesome things."

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Note added at 3 days 5 hrs (2022-10-10 16:32:20 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Chocolate, with an e, obviously.
Sorry.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 days (2022-10-12 10:47:21 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

@Tony I don't think you looked hard enough.
https://www.pinterest.co.uk/kerriharrisbray/chocolate-slabs/

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 5 days (2022-10-12 14:11:40 GMT) Post-grading
--------------------------------------------------

Whatever, Tony. I did find UK sites using my term, which is why I proposed it! That Pinterest site was the quickest way to show you the term in action.

https://b2b.newfarmconfectionery.com.au/collections/bulk-bark

Debora Blake
France
Local time: 17:52
Native speaker of:

English,

French

Notes to answerer

Asker: Thanks, Debora, for turning up this unexpected term. However, it does seem to be particularly US / AU, and I can find precious little reference to it here in Europe.

Asker: Thanks, Debora, but ïnterest is a fundamentally US-oriented platform, and all the posts I've looked at ultimately lead back to US recipes etc.

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English translation: chocolate to break

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