Chocolate Covered Vacation

For a real treat, take your kids to visit a chocolate factory. Many offer tours--no golden ticket required. Because chocolate candy making requires precise temperature and humidity controls as well as a strictly sterilized environment, just about every procedure in a chocolate factory is performed by enormous, specialized machines. If you visit a chocolate factory, you may also see the chocolate laboratory where technicians work hard to monitor every phase of chocolate preparation. Miniaturized versions of the equipment used in the larger factory help the technicians research the best way to make chocolate. From your visit, you may get the impression that chocolate candy making is a strictly scientific procedure, but don't be fooled. Each chocolate factory has its own secret variations in recipes and methods. Chocolate candy making, even in a large factory, is still as much of an art as it is a science.