Chocolate making with Mychocolate

On Sunday 9^th October, I went on my second chocolate making adventure in London with a company called Mychocolate. They run workshop events for corporate entertainment, hen parties and for individuals who love chocolate. I was with a group of 20 individuals who were all very excited about the prospect of making and eating chocolate. First of all, we were given a small talk about the history of chocolate and I learnt that Christopher Columbus discovered cocoa beans from South America and was the first to bring the beans back to Europe between 1502-1504. I also found out that cocoa beans were used as a currency by the Aztecs and the beans were the natives' "coins." A list of Aztec trading prices looked something like this:

1 small rabbit = 30 cacao beans
1 turkey egg = 3 cacao beans
1 large tomato = 1 cacao bean

After a brief talk about the history of chocolate we tasted and compared high quality chocolate to low quality chocolate. Good chocolate is shinier in appearance, snaps more cleanly and taste slightly bitter. Bad chocolate is brittle and dull in texture and tastes of sugar and vegetable fat. Once the tasting had finished we did the fun part which was making chocolate. I made truffles, a massive chocolate button and individual chocolates coated in ingredients you would find at a kids party!!!!! I had so much fun although my presentations skills really need to improve, but apart from the aesthetics the chocolates tasted amazing.