Monday, February 27, 2012

Chocolate from Around the World

When we went to Disney for vacation, I decided to collect some chocolate from other countries. It was easy enough at Epcot, where the World Showcase hosts pavilions from 11 countries. You can shop for authentic clothing, food, and toys from around the world.

But I focused on the chocolate. And oh my! Was it fun to taste test them and decide which one we liked best. We had studied the history of chocolate when we talked about the Mayans and Aztecs, so I turned it into a homeschool lesson that was tasty and fun!

Here's a picture of the different kinds of chocolate we tried:


Dairy Milk is from the UK and is made by Cadbury. I asked a cast member in a UK gift shop which kind of chocolate was her favorite, and she pointed me to this. Stratos and Melkesjokolade are both from Norway. Again, I asked a Norwegian cast member his favorite and he helped me out. The Stratos was his favorite, but he said Americans tended to favor the Melkesjokolade. Kinder and Milka are both from Germany. Milka is white chocolate which is different from the others. The last kind is Ghiardelli which is made in America. I chose a bar with a high cacao content so the kids could see the difference between really dark chocolate and milk chocolate.

I created a taste test comparison sheet, and we all rated the chocolate on a scale of 10. We had to tell what we liked or disliked about the chocolate, too.


The overall favorite was Dairy Milk. It was the most similar to the milk chocolate that we are used to here in the US, but this chocolate was creamier and smoother. The good news - you can find it at WalMart!

Our least favorite was the Ghirardelli. The chocolate was almost bitter. That is easily explained by the high cacao content.

None of us really liked the Stratos from Norway, either. It had air bubbles in it, and it seemed like it didn't have enough chocolate taste. The Kinder was very sweet. It was a milk chocolate bar with creamy filling. Even though I prefer milk chocolate, the Milka was very good. Most white chocolate bars have a chalky aftertaste, but this was very smooth and creamy.

We had a lot of fun as a family, looking for the chocolate then tasting and comparing it. If you ever make the trip to Disney World, take a minute to hunt down some yummy chocolate from another country.

1 comment:

  1. We tried that Milka chocolate in Slovakia... Sometimes Dusan sends us some in the mail. They have one awesome chocolate bar that is milk chocolate with a chocolate filling (kind of like a truffle, but in the little squares that candybars have).

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