Chocolate ponderings

My family have a massive sweet tooth, it's definitely some kind of gene, we are all choc-aholics! So, whilst visiting York everyone was desperate to visit The Chocolate Story - an interactive experience which explains York's part in chocolate making history.

Rowntree's was founded in York, although unfortunately it's now owned by ethically dubious corporate giant Nestlé. The Chocolate experience is sponsored by Nestlé and promised lots of chocolate tasting - so apart from not wanting to buy into it, I wasn't sure I was actually going to get much out of it, expecting it all to be the more kid-popular milk chocolate.

So when my family went off to get their chocolate fill, I headed off for a mooch around the shops of York, and treated myself to some scrummy chocolate and ginger tiffin from vegetarian deli Goji. An hour and a half later I got a call to say that they hadn't actually managed to get into the tour as it was fully booked so they had given up and decided to try again tomorrow! *sigh*

So today, after learning all about the grusome history of the Vikings at Jorvik it was time for take two. After umming and ahhing for a bit I decided I didn't want to walk around on my own in the cold again and to stick with the fam. It turns out I was pleasantly surprised! 

The chocolate tour

I learnt a whole lot about the history of chocolate in the UK (and beyond), more about the process of chocolate making, how to taste the full flavours of chocolate and lots more! There was plenty of chocolate tasting, including an Aztec drink. Nearly ALL of the chocolate offered throughout the tour was vegan, the only bits that weren't suitable were the lolly making, which I simply ducked out of, and the handmade chocolate demonstrated right at the end. I was very pleasantly surprised!

There was a fair amount of pro-Nestle, corporate self-promotion (to be expected) but despite this I actually really enjoyed the tour.

My favourite part was the chocolate demonstration at the end - the chocolatier Alison was so knowledgable and made the process look so easy. She was also more than happy to answer questions and even said if I had any difficulties in my experiments at home that I could email her! I love creating handmade chocs to give as gifts and made some for friends for Christmas this year, and while they usually taste fine they never look very pretty. Now I have have lots of new tricks to try which I'm looking forward to giving a go! I also now know how to create filled chocolates so am determined to be brave and try it myself!

Of course no good attraction is complete without exiting via the gift shop. Most of the chocolate in the shop was from UK based companies and there was a huge amount of vegan options to choose from including Booja Booja truffles, MooFree, Divine and Montezuma. It also has a chocolate bar which makes proper hot chocolate and has soya milk available. Of course I had to get a cup!