Categories: 5-Star Yummies, Cakes, Candy, Chocolate, Reviews, Sightseeing / Travel

Chocolate World

Ugh, how did I miss posting on a special day like International Chocolate Day, four days ago?!  Lemme rectify this, right now.

In recognition of the sweetest place on earth, AKA, most chocolatey city in the US of A (Hershey, Pennsylvania), this post is dedicated to Hershey’s and cocoa bean farmers in the tropical forests.

An ex of mine (the photographer for all these pictures) and I had gone to Hershey, Pennsylvania, and visited Chocolate World a few years back…

 
 
No way we’d pass-up the “Chocolate Tour Ride”.  The first two photos are blurry (sowwee, it’s all the ex’s fault :p)…

 
We learned all about how cocoa beans become chocolate during the tour.  Some of the highlights were:

• Cocoa beans grow in tropical jungle forests 20 degrees north and south of the equator
• The harvesting process is very much still done by hand
• The beans are transported to the Hershey factory by ship
• Inside the factory, machines do all the work:  beans are cleaned, sorted by country of origin (each country’s beans have a distinct flavor), roasted at high temperatures, then de-shelled in “Breaking Chambers” and the “nibs” are used to make chocolate
• Sugar, milk, and a couple of other ingredients are added to the chocolate (lemme just say that the huge vats stirring the liquid chocolate and the aroma permeating the air made it excruciatingly tough to pay attention at this point, LOL)

Hershey’s Kisses coming off the line :p

Everyone disembarking from the “ride” received a free sample-size of Hershey’s latest candy bar (at the time), Take 5… just before walking into a huge room with delightful displays of Hershey’s candy and all sorts of chocolatey souvenirs.  Instead of candy, I indulged in cake…

Slice of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting…..heaven!

Hershey, “the town built on chocolate,” is far from being a mere “town”.  There was a theme park (Hershey Park), zoo (ZooAmerica), Hotel Hershey (where you can bathe in chocolate!), 23-acre botanical garden, museums, a 72-hole championship golf course, stadium, and medical center.  By now, there’s bound to be a few more sweet attractions.

We drove around and saw these Hershey’s Kiss-shaped streetlights on Chocolate Avenue (wouldn’t ya know it, there’s also a Cocoa Avenue?!)…

 
Gosh, I could totally live there! 🙂

PS:  Thank goodness for Hershey’s and chocolate, and the cocoa bean farmers…

Clockwise from top left: Chocolate Lovers’ Favorite Cake, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cream Cheese Chocolate Cupcakes, Chocolate Cherry Crumb Bars

National Chocolate Cake Day…

The makings of a ginormous Kit Kat

Tags: Chocolate World, Hershey, Hershey's, Pennsylvania