Just after break, we came into the class to see that it had been turned into a chocolate workshop! There were strange machines churning and groaning in the corner and the smell of chocolate hung heavy in the air. David, a master chocolatier from Coeur de Xocolat, had come to visit to tell us all about chocolate.

We learned all about the history of chocolate and found out that it was originally the Mayans the discovered it. They drank it with water and called it "chocolatl" or "bitter water" - it didn't taste very nice at this point in time! Soon after, the Spanish arrived in South America, and went home with boats loaded with cocoa beans (as well as many other products!). The Spanish continued the tradition of drinking chocolate, but at least had the sense to decide to use hot water! Over time, drinking chocolate spread until scientists from the British company Fry and Son added sugar and milk to make the first chocolate tablets and bars.

We also found out about what chocolate is made from, and followed the whole process from cocoa bean to chocolate bar, smelling touching and tasting the product at each step of the way! It was amazing to see a cacao pod from Ghana at each stage of the process from rough seed pod to smooth, silky chocolate.

But a day of chocolate wouldn't be complete without the making and tasting! This afternoon we chose a custom made mould for our chocolate before making decisions about what exactly we would like it to contain. Once we had selected our ingredients, melted chocolate was added to our mould and left to set to form our very own chocolate bar!

Feel free to take a look through our photo album (on the our learning page) for photos of our day! If you would like to find out more about our chocolatier - David - you can visit his website at https://www.coeurdexocolat.com/

Look out for chocolate bars being taken home tomorrow!