Chocolatarium - Education about Chocolate

One of the neatest things about home schooling this year is that we get to take the kids on interesting field trips quite often. And this tour of the Chocolatarium was no different - it was a fascinating, hands-on experience. We actually hooked up with this tour through a Edinburgh "Home Education" group who was planning a visit.

We learned so many things on this tour:

1. Where chocolate is produced - Western Africa grow the majority.

2. Where chocolate is consumed - Switzerland eats the most!

3. How cocoa beans are farmed and fermented

4. How cocoa beans are roasted and ground into dark chocolate.

5. How to make cocoa butter - a 75 ton press is needed!

It was a cross of a educational tour and a hands on educational trip of making your own chocolate.

We got to see and sample cocoa bean pods, raw cocoa beans/seeds, fermented beans, & roasted beans. We got to separate the brittle and light bean coverings from the internal seeds (that we had tried before as chocolate nibs when we visited Belize last year). 

Map of Cocoa Bean Production and Chocolate Consumption

Fermented cocoa beans

It was interesting to learn that you couldn't manually grind beans fine enough to make cocoa. Apparently each country has its own rules about how fine in microns the chocolate beans are ground. Japan has the finest grind in the world, grinding the beans down to 9 micron pieces, if I remember correctly. Not only did we get to sample cocoa beans that had been ground for different numbers of hours, but we also saw a demonstration of the making of cocoa butter. A hydraulic press stood in the corner for the purpose of squeezing the fermented, roasted cocoa beans and we all saw the clear, oily cocoa butter that was pressed out of the seed. Quite neat and Dave said that it made the back of his hand feel quite supple!

The Chocolate Making Process

After studying the entire chocolate making process, we got to pour chocolate into molds that we would be able to take home later. There were twenty or so different flavors and fillings that we could put into our chocolates and each of us got to make our own personalized bars.

The chocolate making station

We then got to the final room of the tour - the chocolate tasting room.  We started out by mixing a brew of chocolate drinks the way the Aztecs would have had them - warm, spicy and with coarsely ground roasted cocoa nibs (imagine fine sand mixed with water). Apparently only about 10% of the audience usually like the drink - we could see why! Christine and I both found it palatable, but not a go-to refreshing drink. It was also interesting to learn that the Aztecs used cocoa beans as a form of currency, but somehow, when Cortez returned home to Europe, they were less than excited with his cocoa bean offerings.

The Aztec Drink of Royalty

Then we got to taste samples of a variety of difference chocolates. They focused heavily on Scottish chocolatiers, but included a number of unique chocolates from around the world. The rose colored (a patented cocoa bean!) Belgium chocolate, the ultra-fine Japanese chocolate, and the ultra-spicy Scottish white and dark chocolates were unique standouts, but they were all quite nice.

The chocolate tasting room!

Our budding chocolatiers!

I had a great talk with Jenny McLay, the entrepreneur who launched the Chocolatarium just a month and a half before in September 2019. It is always neat to hear stories of people building interesting businesses, and I'm almost always inspired by their stories.

This was a five star experience and one we highly recommend for anyone visiting Edinburgh!