York Cocoa House is a place where one can learn about chocolate as well as consumption! There is a small library in the cafe dedicated on chocolate; ranging from its origins to eating anything chocolate!
York Cocoa House
On my numerous visits to York Cocoa House I can now distinguish the differences between cacao, cocoa and chocolate! Each have a different definition - only to confuse one! I learnt the Obroma cacao is known as the food of the Gods. York ins known as The Chocolate City with chocolate genius legends; Joseph Rowntree and Noel Terry and still their legacy lives on with their chocolate products (though swallowed up by big impersonal and imperial commercial food producers!) and the sociology of the era with which shaped and shapes York yesterday and today.
Exploring York's chocolate history has given me a new perspective of the city. I have had the opportunity to go off the beaten track to appreciate the chocolatiers and their legacies that reign since then. So far I've done the general city's chocolate trail and one on Joseph Rowntree's life. I plan to do the Noel Terry's trail soon as I can.
You can't beat smelling the whiff of chocolate that greets me whenever I arrive at York's railway station!
I won tickets for a Chocolate Masterclass for two at York Cocoa House. York Cocoa House's Chocolate Masterclass programme is a 15 week course that covers the chocolate making techniques. The classes in the series can be taken individually. I won for one class.
I booked our class for Rebecca and I in June for Gorgeous Ganache Making. We had the privelge of having Sophie, founder of York Cocoa House, taking our class. Her insightful demonstrations gave us the confidence to make the ganache for the chocolates we plan to make. Rebecca chose Yorkshire stout and I decided on peppermint for our fillings. We had fun making the chocolates from utilising the ingredients to using the chocolate moulds. We were given the sociology of chocolate and the value of fresh ingredients used.
We returned home with two bags of dark chocolates with stout and peppermint flavours and milk chocolate truffles. They went down a treat with ourselves and our families! It was a great masterclass and a big thanks to Sophie for the demonstrating and sharing chocolate making techniques.
