World Chocolate Day

Posted on by Claire Hewson

It’s World Chocolate Day! Did you know that across the world we eat more than 3 billion kilograms of chocolate every year? That’s equivalent to 789,473 hippos!

Although chocolate has been part of our lives for some 2,000 years, how much do we really know about it? Here are some activities you can do at home with your child to find out more, plus some scrumptious recipes to try.

How is chocolate made?

Watch A beginners guide to bean-to-bar chocolate to find out how chocolate is harvested from beans in Hawaii and turned into chocolate bars in a local factory.

You could make some picture cards of the ‘bean to bar’ process for your child to order by cutting up  the bean-to-bar infographic on the Readcacao website. Can your child tell you a little bit about each part of the process? There is some information below the infographic which they could read to find out more.

What is Fairtrade?

In the UK most of the cocoa beans that make our chocolate come from the Ivory Coast and Ghana. The chocolate industry is worth £3.7bn pounds, but many cocoa farmers in these countries are paid very little and live in poverty.

Fairtrade was set up to protect farmers by making sure they are never paid less than a certain price for their harvest. Farmers also receive a Fairtrade Premium which is extra money they can use to benefit their communities. For example, they might buy a tap, so everyone has access to clean water.

You could find out more about Fairtrade with your child by visiting the Fairtrade website and watching Life on a Fairtrade cocoa farm. Your child could draw the Fairtrade certification mark to help them identify Fairtrade chocolate bars next time they are shopping.

Who can win the World Chocolate Day quiz?

Make up your own family quiz about chocolate based on these 10 fun facts about chocolate you never knew! and everything you have all learnt so far about how chocolate is made and Fairtrade.

The prize? A piece of chocolate for each correct answer?

Favourite recipes for chocolate lovers

These are some of our favourite, quick and easy chocolate recipes. We hope you all enjoy cooking and tucking in together.

Chocolate Mousse

50g chocolate (we recommend dark chocolate but choose your favourite!)

20g icing sugar

40g unsalted butter

20g cocoa powder

2 medium eggs, separated into yolks and whites

50ml whipping cream

  1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of gently simmering water.
  2. When the chocolate has melted add the icing sugar, egg yolks, cocoa powder and butter. Beat the mixture together until it’s smooth.
  3. In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks.
  4. Fold the egg whites and the whipping cream into the chocolate mixture.
  5. Pour the mousse into a bowl and chill for 2-3 hours.

Best ever chocolate cake

Cake:

200ml milk

1 tsp lemon juice

100g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

2 large eggs

½ tsp vanilla essence

200g plain flour

4tbsp cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp bicarbonate soda

Icing:

50g unsalted butter

1 egg yolk (large)

100g chocolate

100g icing sugar

  1. Preheat the oven to 1900C/gas mark 5.
  2. Put all the cake ingredients into a blender and whizz into a smooth batter.
  3. Divide the mixture into two 8 inch cake tins and bake for 25 minutes or until the cakes are springy when touched.
  4. Leave the cakes to cool.
  5. When the cakes are cool, make the icing by whizzing all the icing ingredients together in a blender.
  6. Sandwich the cakes together with the icing.

Chocolate biscuits

1 egg (large)

125g self-raising flour

175g plain flour

175g unsalted butter

175g caster sugar

200g chocolate spread (be careful with nut allergies here)

  1. Preheat the oven to 1800C/gas mark 4.
  2. Put all the ingredients, except the chocolate spread, into a blender and mix until it forms a dough.
  3. Roll the dough, a bit at a time, into small balls in the palms of your hands. Each ball should be roughly 1 inch in diameter.
  4. Gently flatten each ball onto a greased baking tray.
  5. Make a dent in each ball with your thumb.
  6. Fill the dent with about 1 tsp of chocolate spread.
  7. Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden.

Is your child curious about the world?

Has your child enjoyed learning about World Chocolate Day? Whatever your child’s interests, TutorMyKids can help them to explore their passion further or engage them in other subjects through their area of interest.

We offer tuition in English, maths, humanities and languages to children in Cambridge, Ely, Huntingdon, Newmarket and the surrounding areas.

To find out more about one-to-one tuition please contact 01223 858 421 or hello@tutormykids.co.uk