About Us

Our Mission

Dragées are all about celebrating life, enjoying the sweet moments it brings, and expressing joy in the most refined fashion. This is, to make a long story short, what EL KAISSI has been passionate about offering its customers during the last eight decades.

Our Vision

Since 1942, we have been marrying flavors, textures, and hues, experimenting and mastering the design of the dragées that engages all senses within a unique, sophisticated experience.
EL KAISSI carries on the vision in maintaining the devotion for high quality products, promoting the most genuine image of business-making on all levels, while consequently growing to reach new markets with new experiences.

Our Values

  • Reliability
    • All members of the company are committed to constant and sustained evaluation and improvement of customer satisfaction. The company’s culture is built upon the deep-rooted conviction that earning customers’ trust is crucial for success.
      Our manufacturing systems have been progressively shaped and tuned to materialize our commitment to quality. Starting with the careful selection of the finest ingredients, our products are made with the highest manufacturing standards, an exceptional eye for detail, and a lot of passion.
  • Integrity
    • EL KAISSI seeks to promote the most genuine and socially responsible image of business-making. Our growth in offerings and markets goes hand in hand with our dedication to the highest ethical standards in dealing with all our members, customers, suppliers, and partners.
  • Innovation
    • Guided by an extended legacy of know-how and expertise in candy making, EL KAISSI is constantly exploring techniques, developing recipes, and creating products to better meet its customers’ expectations. Moreover, each member of the company is involved in the continual improvement of manufacturing processes to discover new ways to elevate our customers’ experience.

Our Story

El Kaissi Company SARL is the direct heir of more than seven decades of confectionery manufacturing family businesses. Founded in 1942, EL KAISSI took off as a small workshop for the manufacturing of hard and soft candies, then quickly expanded its offerings to include chocolate.
During the 1960s, the company’s products started to reach all the Lebanese regions through major confectionery distributors. The company’s growth was reflected in both market penetration, reaching neighboring markets, and its product portfolio, including traditional confectionery products as well as dragées. The latter has been EL KAISSI’s specialty since then.
Aspiring to achieve the highest possible quality standards as well as the enrichment of its coated confectionery products variety, EL KAISSI focuses all of its efforts on the expansion and improvement of dragées offerings. Its products are now distributed in more than 20 export markets in the MENA region, North America, Australia, Europe, and China.

Dragées 101

Dragées

/'dra:3ei/

noun: dragée

plural noun: dragées

In modern French and English, traced back to "dragie" in Old French, the dragées is a very special kind of small confectionery, consisting of a center coated with an outer shell The centers can be nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, etc), chocolate (molded into various shapes), dried fruits or any other choice of goodies.

It goes without saying, not all dragees are created equal. The grade of any coated product is evaluated on the basis of a set of variables. Setting aside any taste-related preference, these are the most important features any dragees gourmet certainly appreciates:

1 GRADE OF THE CENTER

Sweet almonds are mainly cultivated in the US under 25 different variations, while Spain, France, and Italy contribute about 40 variations to the world almond production. With a variety that wide, one needs to practically simplify the process of evaluating almonds used in dragees . Larger almond sizes are generally used in higher grade dragees, but there are exceptions to this observation; depending on the thickness of the sugar coating, some smaller almond sizes may yield more attractive final dragees. More direct and simple in sugar coated chocolate, the cocoa content of chocolate and the beans blend composition are the main variables that dictate the grade of the chocolate dragee.

2 TREATMENT OF THE CENTER

Mainly in coated nuts, the treatment of the center prior to any coating has a considerable effect on the final product. Be it slow drying or dry roasting, after they are sugar coated, the almonds or any other nuts will show the attention they received during that preliminary process. The final result should give a pleasant crispy texture that balances the natural bitter creaminess of the almond with the sugar sweetness as well as the occasional smoked roasting aroma.

3 COATING LAYER

In simple words, the thinner the coating the higher the grade of the sugar coated dragee. A high-grade sugar coating is thick enough to evenly cover the center with a smooth crystalized sugar, but thin enough for an easy bite and a pleasant texture and friability. The sugar coating comes to complement the taste complexity and set the stage for the surface finishing. This generally also applies to chocolate coated dragees, however, the chocolate coating layer should be generous enough to give the expected chocolate experience.

4 SURFACE FINISHING

A real connoisseur first recognizes the quality dragee by examining the surface. Whether it is matte, gloss y, pearly or otherwise, the surface should be even and perfectly smooth, with a reflection pattern that communicates the product's delicacy and a perfectly even co lo ri ng. To sum it up, a quality dragee should have a coating that is visually and tactilely smooth and even. The crystalized sugar or chocolate surface should follow the natural or molded shape, resulting from an even coating on all parts of the center.

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