Kiddos and the Chocolate Factory

While mom was here we went to Videri chocolate factory for a private tour/field trip. The kids learned how to make chocolate starting from picking the cacao pod off the tree to wrapping the bar. Here they were smelling the beans and learning about the roasting process, then they moved to see where the bead was crushed and then turned into a chocolate bar.

the giant roaster

Videri chocolate is completely organic and peanut free. They are very small and just opened in December so they do pretty much everything by hand..including wrapping the candy bars.


The owners were AWESOME with the kids and gave out samples of all the chocolate after answering every question possible that the kids had. This is a picture of them sitting in front of the GIANT bags of cacao beans which have to be sorted by hand.


I had the kids write out the process of taking a cacao bean and turning it into a chocolate bar. This is what Braden wrote in his journal:

How To Make Chocolate at Videri:

Step 1: First South Americans pick the cacao bean pods off of a bush in Peru or Venezuela. Then they pick out all the small cacao beans from the pod and put them in giant bags, and send them to the Videri factory in America.

Step 2: Next the Videri workers dump the bag out and sorted the shells and yucky beans (which are sometimes used as mulch) from the good beans that are put in big buckets.

Step 3: They roast the beans on a high temperature for hours.

Step 4: Then they crush the cacao beans which separates the cocoa butter from cocoa powder.

Step 5: They melt milk powder, sugar, vanilla bean, cocoa powder, and cocoa butter together.

Step 6: Next they put it in a heater, stick it in molds, and let it sit on a shelf to rest for five days.

Step 7: Last they wrap them by hand and sell them.

Fact: It takes one to two weeks to do the whole process.