Field Report: Chocolate in Spain
by Claire Amundson
I love chocolate, and when I first came to Spain, I noticed that there was lots of chocolate. I wondered how it was made and why it was here. To find those answers we went to the Chocolate Museum in Astorga.
Chocolate is very important in Spain. The Spanish kings and queens loved to drink hot chocolate. At the museum, they said that hot chocolate is to the Spanish, as tea is to the English. The cocoa bean was brought over from the Dominican Republic and Mexico a long time ago. In Mexico they made it spicy, but the Spanish liked to make it sweet. I like it sweet.
Chocolate is made out of cacao, but before they make chocolate they need to roast the beans. The chocolate museum lets you see the cacao and has smelling tanks. You can smell the different kinds. They smelled and looked different before and after they are roasted.
A chocolate maker makes chocolate out of cacao beans. After the cacao beans are roasted the chocolate makers roll them so that they are crushed. Then they roast them again to get the flavor out of the beans. This was how they used to make chocolate a long time ago, but now they use machines. The machines are very strong, so you don’t have to use your arms.
Next, a chocolatier makes the chocolate into the fancy chocolate treats that I love to eat.
We also learned about how the chocolate was advertised. Advertised means how they get you to buy it. You used to be able to get playing cards with your chocolate. You could collect them all. I would buy chocolate even without the collection cards, cause it is yummy.
But the best part was at the end when we got to eat the chocolate. Yum yum! In Spain, I have had lots of chocolate. Hot chocolate, churros con chocolate, napolitanas (pastry with chocolate), and chocolate bars, they are all delicioso! That is delicious in Spanish.
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