Chocolate, chocolate, oh and chocolate

Friday was the big holiday party of the dept T is visiting. A chocolate factory tour and wine tasting/dinner were on the agenda, and wow, we were not disappointed! After an hour bus ride heading east, we stepped out into the fresh air delicately scented with chocolate. Mmmm! Inside - stronger smell of chocolate! And for the next hour we were to learn all about the organic fair trade chocolate-making process, eating our way through the factory, all the chocolate you could sample and more!

Audio guides on ears, we started with the pure stuff (not so exciting), and moved on to comparing different percentages, both in solid and liquid form. Each person was given a ceramic 'kissing spoon' to use to taste, and warned not to go too crazy as more chocolate was ahead.

And they weren't kidding. How about a long corridor with maybe 50 different chocolate bars to sample? As you made your way along, looking down on to the factory floor where they were wrapping the bars, you would pull a lever to cut a small sliver of chocolate off a bar and it would fall into a tray where you would retrieve it with small tongs. From various percentages (ranging from 40-100%) from Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Nicaragua, Brazil, to blends with different fruit, roses, or yogurt and fruit, all of their offerings were there. And you just had to try very nearly every one! My favorite was the 60% Peruvian.

Ok, just when you think you're at your limit, you go up some stairs to a sleek, modern chocolate bar for the drinking chocolate. Get your hot milk, select an exciting flavor from the baskets cruising by, suspended from the hanging cable conveyor system, and drop it in and mix it up. I selected honey-cinnamon; T tried the one laced with chili. (You can see how excited I am - part of that is a sugar high) Wow. So good.


Proceed to the next building, through the cauldron corridor, where small brass side-spinning cauldrons build up little nuggets of goodness layer by layer. I only had a couple here, as I was beginning to max out. The last segment before the shop was a sampling of the layered bars, which got pretty inventive and even outrageous. Peanut butter and ketchup. Speck (ham). Olio e limone. Fish (didn't try that one). The caramel was good, as was the strawberry basil.

And that was the end of the tour, just when you couldn't eat one more bit of chocolate, you found yourself in the chocolate shop. We bought lots to bring home..!