Choco-ALOT (If you're really hungry you might want to skip this post)

Last Tuesday, our homeschool group took the sweetest field trip! We toured Dinstuhls Chocolate Factory/Store. It wasn't the first time we toured there, but it had been a few years and way too long, so I was happy to go back! It truly has been a favorite field trip of mine! They were the nicest people and when you combine that with lots and lots of chocolate, well......need I say more????? Come on along with me and I'll share this heavenly field trip with you, but please note I'm not responsible for any increasted appetites after reading this post! :)



Here's our group (well the kids) outside Dinstuhls before the tour began:



First imagine walking through the door to the aroma of every kind of chocolate treat you could imagine....milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, chocolate covered strawberries............heavenly smells I tell you! You look around and there's chocolate everywhere, mouth-watering chocolate.....behind the counters.... and out on the shelves!



Well we passed through there and went back behind the scenes and watched a slide presentation on how we get chocolate, how the company was started, the process it goes through, etc... It was very interesting. The kids were very attentive.





From there, we really went behind the scenes....right into the factory. Can you imagine going to work everyday with a chocolate fountain, dipping candies into chocolate? These people obviously enjoy their jobs!

They had samples for us to taste right there. See those at the far right? That's cashew crunch...a speciality of theirs and my personal favorite! Yummy! (I snuck back over for seconds by the way...and Joy didn't like hers...so guess who got it?)



Nobody had to be coaxed!



Just look at this fudge!



They make their own heavenly marshmellows! They were so light in your mouth. Yes, the guy was standing there while Lori and I were photographing it and asked if we wanted a taste.....and you know we didn't refuse! (I'm the gal that loves those marshmellow peeps and can eat a whole box!)



The kids asked really good questions and some funny ones and our tour guide, Andrew (a 5th generation candy maker), really enjoyed answering them. He was great and the children were totally captivated!





Here they were making pralines.







Here candy goes on getting a bottom layer of chocolate.



Here goes the chocolate down the conveyor belt headed to the "chocolate fountain".



At the end it was showered with chocolate.....immersing it into chocolate...beautiful chocolate!



This reminded me so much of the I Love Lucy episode where she and Ethel were working in the chocolate factory and all was well.....they were loving that job and pretty confident with themselves about how easy it was....until production sped up and they couldn't keep up! They were stuffing chocolate everywhere.....in their mouths, in their shirts and aprons.....do you remember that?



(They even had this postcard hanging on their bulletin board of the Lucy episode)!

This lady was obviously keeping up with her job though!



At Dinstuhl's, custom orders are welcomed and no request is too hard or unique.



They make chocolate in every shape you can imagine!





Joy and I brought Colt home a chocolate electric guitar!

A few years ago when we went, they had similiar houses (but Christmas houses)...an entire village of chocolate houses....it was quite a sight!



Around Easter, they made a 75 lb. solid chocolate bunny rabbit with chocolate eggs in his basket. A man came in and bought it to be sent to St. Jude Hospital. I thought that was so thoughtful! Can you imagine the delight of those children?

At the end of our tour, there was much shopping going on in the store and as we left, each adult was given a chocolate sampling box and each child was given a goodie bag of chocolate and other candy treats to take home!

And did you know that chocolate is actually very good for you? I have it straight from the mouth of a 5th generation candy maker. So there, go get you some chocolate.....it's good for you! :)



(Well maybe not THIS much)!