Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum

Pilfered from the chocolate museum's website.

There was a brief time in my adulthood that I had sworn off chocolate.  No, not for health reasons.  I no longer found the taste appealing.  People would marvel at the fact that I didn't like chocolate.  I would hear, "What woman in her right mind does not like chocolate?"  A little bit of a sexist comment but that rant is for another post, another time.  I finally had figured out what was wrong with me.  What was wrong was my taste buds had matured.  I no longer enjoyed chocolate that was of poor quality, stuff I had as a kid.  So my question now is, "What person in their right mind would like chocolate of poor quality?"  Turns out I do like chocolate, very much so.  I like it to be high quality and I don't over eat it.  I enjoy a small chocolate a small nibble at a time.  I enjoy the chocolate for it's texture, taste and even how quickly it melts in my mouth.  While in Germany I grew quite fond of their chocolate and we thought the Chocolate Museum would be a great place to visit.  **Hint: check hotel/hostel lobbies for a buy one get one coupon for admission.**

So again I had to use the crappy camera to capture photos.  If I didn't need to conserve iPhone battery life for other tasks I would have used it, it has a better camera.  But we were constantly on the run going to different places without an outlet to charge a phone, so you get crappy pictures.  I apologize in advance.

Indoor tropicarium to mimic that of the regions where the cacao beans grow.

This indoor forest was really humid and really hot compared to the weather outside.  I had to peel down wo of my clothing layers so I didn't get sweaty.  There were so many different types of flora: pineapple, papaya, starfruit, vanilla, cacao, Christmas palm, Chinese fan palm, mango, strelitzia, cashew, copaifera, even miracle fruit!  I probably got to see some plants that I may not see again in my lifetime.

Used to grind beans, but in my house as a child grandma used it to grind maize.

Chocolate vending machine, he kinda looked creepy.

Box from East Africa, where cacao was harvested.

Hot chocolate anyone?

A serving set specifically designed for hot chocolate.

The Sarotti Mohr

Sarotti chocolate manufacturer's old logo and boxes.

Old timey chocolate molds.

Gold foil wrap before and after.

I thought this was really cool.  How the stencil is designed and then printed on foil to fit chocolate molds.  I always wondered what they looked like but was never patient enough to unwrap my foil and keep the whole thing in tact; the chocolate or the foil!  There were also other displays including the Lindt bunny.  Incidentally there is a giant Gold Lindt Bunny outside of the chocolate museum that I just so happened to fail at capturing on camera.

The recipe is so simple!

Old chocolate items.

You could create your own Lindt bar as a souvenir in the museum.  Alas the line was incredibly long and really not worth the wait.  There was also a sweet shop located near the exit of the museum.  And outside of the museum, anywhere, I could find more chocolate for a better price.  Tourist trappy?  Yes.

Giant jug of Nutella.

At the start of the tour, you are given a small foil wrapped Lindt chocolate.  And near the end of your journey you can actually see where and how the chocolate was made.  It was really quite marvelous I think.

Chocolate fountain.

I think this by far was my favorite fountain in all of Köln.  Though I couldn't jump in and get stuck like Agustus I did get to taste the chocolate, peril free.  The lovely ladies were dipping wafers into the chocolate and handing all museum tourists a sample to try on their way out of the chocolate factory exhibit.  The museum is situated along the Rhine, so through several windows, you see beautiful views of the river and the other side of the river bank. 

You can see the giant Ferris Wheel across the Rhine.

While on the subject of chocolate.  Did you know Kinder Eggs are not allowed in the US?  Yea, something about idiot children choking on the toy prize inside.  If the little porkers don't know the difference between food and toys they maybe deserve to choke on the prize.  Whatever that's just my rant that I can't have a magical chocolate egg with a prize inside when ever the urge strikes me.  Looking back I could have been slapped with a hefty fine for bringing back some of these eggs with me.  I was so bold as to smuggle, in plain sight a MAXI (spoken in am amazing movie announcer deep voice) Kinder Egg.  I carried it in my carry-on shopping bag, carefully cradling it to avoid breaking.  But not cradling so tight that I would melt it with my warmth.

Do you have anything to declare?
Yeah, lots of amazing chocolate!

Okay, go on through.

While my sister got held at customs.  Even though she had all the proper forms filled out AHEAD of time.

So sad.

Oh yeah, I accidentally smuggled home some Jägermeister in my carry-on side pouch.  It was a little shooter sized one, I had forgotten all about it.  That is until I got home and unpacked.