Chocolate Tasting Workshop
Cocoa Encounters
Who better to teach children about chocolate than a Certified Chocolate Taster and International Chocolate Judge? Most children love eating chocolate and the idea of growing up to be a chocolate taster opens up a whole new world of career possibilities for them!Before they taste, the children learn that being a chocolate taster is not an easy job. In order to be able to taste properly they first need to learn about chocolate and how we perceive flavour. To find out where the taste of chocolate comes from they need to learn how it grows and who grows it and also how the taste of the beans changes on the farm and in the factory as it is turned into chocolate. Then they discover how to taste chocolate like a chocolate judge. They need to use all their senses, learn how to distinguish tongue tastes and how to the detect the different flavour notes that you can find in fine chocolate. Then they get to taste chocolate that has been judged by experts as the best chocolate in the world.
I am supported by a little character called ‘Midge’ who features in my presentations, as without the chocolate midge who pollinates the cacao tree there would be no chocolate. Midge helps introduce the different curriculum subjects.
With my knowledge of the different origins of cacao and the people who are making fine chocolate, I bring real people, places and different types of chocolate to the classroom. This could be a video message from growers and makers in Brazil, or stories of the descendants of the original Maya who are protecting the rainforest and its endangered species, or the real life problems faced by chocolate companies when choosing their packaging.
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What activities are available during this school workshop?
Each workshop is a minimum of 1 hour and 30 minutes. Workshops are split into two sections, the first is tailored to the curriculum, the second is the practical chocolate tasting session.
PART 1
This is where we build and extend their knowledge of the subjects with an interactive session, using audio and visual presentation and the support of Midge. This is tailored to your curriculum choices. Without leaving the classroom, the children can be taken on a journey back to the Mayan empire, to the equator and the rainforest, before returning home to the UK to see a chocolate maker hard at work in a small chocolate factory in Cleethorpes. All pupils get to crush and peel, smell and taste roasted cocoa beans.
The activities for this session are tailored to the curriculum. If studying the Maya for example the beans can be blended into a basic chocolate. If we are studying design technology I bring it lots of different types of packs to help solve the challenges we face when making packaging decisions.
PART 2
This practical session takes the children through a series of tasting exercises to identify the difference between tongue tastes and aromas and to learn to identify aromas in a range of foods. This is followed by a chocolate tasting. The children are asked to taste four different chocolates, two dark and two milk from different origins and identify the aroma notes in the chocolate they are tasting. All the chocolate is fine chocolate made by Lincolnshire's very own Willy Wonka - Duffy Sheardown from Cleethorpes. Some of the chocolate has won awards, one was even judged the best chocolate in the world. The children get to decide which chocolate they think is the best.
PART 1
This is where we build and extend their knowledge of the subjects with an interactive session, using audio and visual presentation and the support of Midge. This is tailored to your curriculum choices. Without leaving the classroom, the children can be taken on a journey back to the Mayan empire, to the equator and the rainforest, before returning home to the UK to see a chocolate maker hard at work in a small chocolate factory in Cleethorpes. All pupils get to crush and peel, smell and taste roasted cocoa beans.
The activities for this session are tailored to the curriculum. If studying the Maya for example the beans can be blended into a basic chocolate. If we are studying design technology I bring it lots of different types of packs to help solve the challenges we face when making packaging decisions.
PART 2
This practical session takes the children through a series of tasting exercises to identify the difference between tongue tastes and aromas and to learn to identify aromas in a range of foods. This is followed by a chocolate tasting. The children are asked to taste four different chocolates, two dark and two milk from different origins and identify the aroma notes in the chocolate they are tasting. All the chocolate is fine chocolate made by Lincolnshire's very own Willy Wonka - Duffy Sheardown from Cleethorpes. Some of the chocolate has won awards, one was even judged the best chocolate in the world. The children get to decide which chocolate they think is the best.
Which curriculum topics do we cater for?
Design Technology
Materials
Click to read full text Can the children help me with my chocolate packaging decisions? Chocolate is a tricky thing to package and it has to be protected to keep its taste. It can melt, it can get broken, it can get contaminated by smells so the materials and design are very important. Chocolate packaging is also crucial for branding and there are environmental considerations too. There are lots of decisions to make.
With my experience of tasting chocolate and packaging samples for other people to taste, we can look at how chocolate bars are packaged and consider the challenge of a chocolate educator wanting to send samples through the post for people to taste.
Food
Chocolate Making Workshops Preparing food and cooking techniques Where food comes from Nutrition and healthy diets
Chocolate is one of our favourite foods but not necessarily a healthy one. We learn how to taste chocolate like a chocolate judge and learn to enjoy the flavours in what we are eating. We also get to eat some of the best chocolate in the world!
We learn where this food comes from and how it is made. We look at how we have prepared chocolate through history and can crush up beans and see how they are made into chocolate. We also learn how the flavour changes as it is roasted and tempered.
Environmental Geography
Fairtrade Conservation Sustainable living Rainforest
Click to read full text Who better than the chocolate midge to show us where and how cacao is grown, the rainforest environment needed to grow this type of tree, the threats of deforestation and chocolate's role in this both good and bad, fair trade and the lives of the cocoa farmers and how we can help. We can meet some of the people and see the chocolate bars that are helping conservation projects in different environments.
We can cover all of these subjects through the audio and visual trip to a rainforest, looking at different countries that grow cacao and how they grow it, the different layers of the rainforest and how there are different types of cacao that are grown in different places and different ways.
Ancient Civilisations
Maya Civilisation
Click to read full text We love chocolate and so did the Maya. But did the chocolate that the Maya drank taste like the chocolate we eat today? We can taste cocoa beans similar to the ones the Maya prized and see how they made and drank this delicious substance and how it compares to the chocolate we make and consume today.
With the help of Midge, we can look at their society, art and trade, to see how they valued chocolate and consumed it. Through the chocolate we eat, we can meet the descendants of these civilizations and see how they are still growing cacao and look at the similarities and differences in how they use cacao today.
Biology
Habitats Ecology and environment Living things and habitats Animals including humans Plants Life Cycles Senses
Click to read full text There is so much biology to learn from chocolate and cacao. With the help of Midge we discover the habitat needed for the chocolate midges to thrive and to pollinate cacao and we look at the tree itself (cauliflory with its fruit growing from its stem), its habitat and how it grows better in a biodiverse ecosystem.
Cacao is also an important part of the food chain for many animal species and deforesting to grow cacao is a big problem. We can meet some of the people and see the chocolate bars that are helping conservation projects in different environments.
We can cover all of these subjects with the help of Midge, through the audio and visual trip to a rainforest, looking at different countries that grow cacao and how they grow it,
What size groups do we cater for?
Up to 35 pupils per workshop. Up to 3 workshops per day (am x 2, pm x 1)
Access for visitors with disabilities
Workshops are in-school and we work with the school to cater for disabilities
Visitors with Special Educational Needs (SEN)
Yes We certainly can. Please use the form below to let us know your group's specific SEN requirements and we will get back to you with more information on how we can tailor our learning experience for your children.
Anything else?
The chocolate can be either with-dairy or vegan.
Our Reviews from Schools..
★★★★★
"The children were thoroughly engaged throughout the whole workshop, applying some of
their previous knowledge about the rainforests and learning lots of ne information relating
to our current work on the Mayans." Year 5 (Including the Maya and Rainforests)"
★★★★★
"The workshop was fun, informative and presented in a way in which the children were engage from start to end. We learned more in an afternoon than we could ever learn visiting large confectionery companies which offer similar themed visits and workshops" Year 6 (The Maya)"
★★★★★
"The children (and adults) found the Cocoa Encounters workshop thoroughly enjoyable. It was well pitched, excellently resourced and well thought out - Kathryn delivered it brilliantly. I like how the workshop was tailored to our curriculum learning and really challenged the children to think about where chocolate comes from." Years 3 and 4 (Including Food Chains and Chocolate Packaging)"
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