Welcome to the Cadbury Experience in Birmingham, England. Where chocolate comes to life.
Well, coco beans.
Touring the museum, it took you back 1000 years to Mexico, where you walk through the tropical rainforest of the Mayan Indians. Discover how the cocoa tree was central to their culture, and see the Aztec Emperor Montezuma whose favorite drink was 'chocolatl'.
The Mayans used chocolate mixed with chilies to make a spicy drink for religious ceremonies and traded with the Aztecs, who weren't able to grow cacao themselves. The Aztecs upper class were the only ones who drank the frothy, spicy drink due to its high price.
The Spanish explorers like Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortez are credited to discovering the beans and sending them back to Spain. The Spaniards added cane sugar to the drink and kept their discovery a secret from the rest of Europe for almost a century!
Walk into Bull Street, a full-scale replica of the original street where John Cadbury opened his shop in 1824! Fascinating history. Little did Mr. Cadbury know that his tea shop and drinking chocolate would one day become a world wide company. I wonder if he ever imagined how successful it would be.
After learning the process of making chocolate liquor, everyone was given free samples.
Mmmm, liquid chocolate!
After riding the Beanmobile through a chocolate wonderland, we entered the demonstration area where we were shown how to "temper" chocolate and make it easier to work with. Mmmmm, then we were able to create confectionary art on marble slabs.
Best part is going through the isles and isles of Cadbury chocolate. We did splurge a little.
Oh, and they had some of my favorite...Cadbury eggs.
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