Our new study theme is chocolate, so today we started by talking about the Aztecs, who were the first to consume cocoa beans; they also used them as currency. Zachary did a timeline comprehension and was intrigued to learn that some of the big chocolate brand names nowadays had a significant impact on early chocolate production: Henri Nestle invented powdered chocolate, Joseph Fry was the first to make filled chocolates and Rodolphe Lindt was the first to make a milk chocolate bar.
 |
| Chocolate themed colouring |
 |
| Jory enjoys tracing the outlines of words |
 |
| Ptolemy and Jory had a fun trip to the bottle bank with Daddy |
 |
| Tahlia spent a while colouring a pretty chocolate picture |
 |
| Delicious! |
 |
| Zachary coloured a world map showing the tropical regions where cacao is grown |
 |
| Although native to South and Central America, most cacao nowadays is grown in Africa (a lot in Cote D'Ivoire & Ghana) |
 |
| Our themed lunchtime treat! |
We had a look at pictures of the cacao pods and learnt that the Aztecs didn't eat chocolate the way we do today, they drank it as a spiced hot chocolate drink called Xocolātl, dating back to 450BC. We had a go at making our own Xocolātl...
 |
| We added sweet spices and a chilli! This is the way the Aztecs would have enjoyed it. |
 |
| Ptolemy really wanted Daddy to be able to try it, so we brought it up to him while he was working |
 |
| Daddy liked it |
 |
| Tahlia liked it |
 |
| Ptolemy liked it (Zachary didn't)... |
...Until a few moments later the chilli kicked in; then they decided they'd had enough!
 |
| We had a look at some cacao nibs; these are small pieces of cocoa bean |
 |
| We touched them, smelt them (they weren't impressed!) and then had a taste... |
 |
| They all hated the taste - far too bitter! |
 |
| Then we all had a go at grinding up the cacao nibs into a powder - this is what the Aztecs did to prepare it for making their chocolate drink |
 |
| It was very hard to do and after many attempts at grinding, we had some slightly smaller cacao nibs (but no powder) |
 |
| Finding Mexico on the globe |
 |
| Next we tasted some single origin chocolate from Peru (and found where the country is) |
 |
| Then we moved onto a taste test; Tahlia could tell which was white chocolate; this was the one she liked the best |
We talked about how the higher the cocoa content, the more antioxidants (and therefore more healthy), but the less sweet it is. They all (unsurprisingly) liked the low cocoa chocolate the best.
 |
| Ptolemy liked them all |
 |
| Daddy came down for a break just at the right time to do a chocolate taste test |
 |
| They loved feeding him! |
 |
| Orange, mint, chilli, caramel and almond; Daddy got them all right! |
 |
| Next we chose our top 3 favourites |
 |
| Zachary's favourites: 1st: caramel, 2nd: white chocolate with vanilla, 3rd: chocolate orange |
 |
| We headed outside for a treasure hunt for well known chocolate bars |
 |
| Ptolemy runs back with one |
 |
| More hunting (Jory just enjoyed a good run around) |
 |
| Spot Jory |
 |
| Next we looked at the different chocolate bars to see which companies made them and put them into categories for which we had tried before and which we hadn't; this was followed by each of us choosing our top ten chocolate bars |
 |
| Mummy's top ten |
 |
| Ptolemy's favourite; Zachary liked Crunchie the best |
 |
| Ptolemy lines up his top ten |
 |
| Next we played a game that they loved called 'don't eat the peep' |
 |
| One person left the room while the group chose which bunny was 'the peep'. The person returned and ate mini smarties until they ate the peep - at which point, everyone would shout "DON'T EAT THE PEEP!" |
Then we made our own 'artisan chocolate', using coloured white chocolate, and various toppings...
 |
| They spent a while decorating their edible artwork |
 |
| The finished products |
such fun with chocolate! my fave choc bars order best to worst would be, Daim, crunchie, lindor, toblerone, malteasers, boost, choc orange, Revels, dairy milk, buttons, cream egg
ReplyDelete