When we arrived in said factory it didn't look much, stuck at the back of an anonymous Orlando strip mall, but inside it certainly smelled the part. Chocolate products adorned every available surface, and they were even trying to grow their own cocoa plants in a greenhouse. The trees only thrive 20-degrees north and south of the equator so Florida is too cold to have them out of doors. I learned that on the tour.
The factory tour was - as we've always found in this capitalist country - excellent, and our tour guide was very perky. Super-perky, high school cheerleader perky, which was impressive as a) she admitted to having conducted this tour around 5000 times, and b) because me, Hannah and Pete were the only three people there. I thought of taking her aside and explaining that we were British and so naturally had low expectations but it didn't seem fair.
The tour included an extensive history of chocolate, tons of tastings, a dragon that you fired marshmallows at, a chocolate river, and a customised chocolate bar at the end. All very exciting, and Hannah was in heaven which is good as it's our last day here. Tomorrow we drive north and spend the night at a town that has a kazoo factory you can visit! It's my holiday too, you know...
A kingdom, a factory, an adventure.
Cocoa plants, but no pods yet, or for a while by the look of them.
Enjoying an Aztec hot chocolate on the tour.
Castle, river, chocolate.
Firing marshmallows...
...at a dragon with a moustache. I'm not sure about the relevance of this but the tour guide was so perky about it I let it pass.
Turning roasted cocoa beans into nibs and then chocolate!
Hannah's personalised chocolate bar - marshmallows, cranberries, pecans. Its existence was short and eventful.
As if you needed reasons.
Pete takes a photo. Not long now and this blog is his responsibility.
