Year 3 take a tasting tour of the Zotter Chocolate Factory

This term, the Year 3 pupils have started their new International Primary Curriculum (IPC) topic of 'Chocolate’ – with a view to learning more about the history of its production, as well as its geographical and artistic influences on the countries where it is made. On Friday 10th February, To support this exciting and rather tasty topic, Wellington College International Shanghai Year 3 pupils, teachers and parent volunteers visited the Zotter Chocolate Factory in Puxi. Our tour of the factory began with an educational introductory video which outlined the key steps of the chocolate-making process. Not only did this demonstrate to pupils the complexity and precision that goes into making every chocolate product, it also highlighted the growing importance of using fair trade ingredients to make the global chocolate industry more sustainable and responsible. After the introductory video, we began our exploration of the chocolate-making process itself, starting with the cacao pods. We were shown exactly how the cacao beans were harvested from their pods to form the base for the chocolate we know and love. The pupils were even given the opportunity to taste the cacao beans before the processing stage; it was certainly not to everyone’s liking! As they reacted to the bitter and sweet flavours, this hands-on activity helped them understand how much the initial ingredients would change and evolve during the manufacturing process to become the end product they were familiar with. As we continued through the factory, our pupils were able to look through large glass panels and watch each stage of the chocolate’s development – from the preparation of the various base ingredients, to the melting and pouring of the liquid chocolate into various moulds for shaping, cooling and packaging. Every step of the tour was accompanied by the heavenly smells of the forming chocolate and the pupils also stopped at several points along the way to catch the scents of the chocolate flavourings, including vanilla, aniseed and cinnamon. The Zotter Factory tour wasn’t just about watching chocolate being made, the pupils were also able to get stuck in and craft their own chocolatey concoction. Factory chocolatiers helped them gather and turn the base ingredients into a hot molten mix which was poured into a large chocolate bar mould and left to slowly set. As the pupils waited for their creation to cool, they continued their tasting tour, testing the wondrous array of Zotter’s chocolate flavours, including spicy chocolate, fruity chocolate, salty chocolate, the classic dark and milk chocolate flavours and even vegan chocolate. The tour wasn’t quite finished; the pupils were also shown how to make real hot chocolate by melting full chocolate bar in hot milk. As a final treat, they were taken to the gift shop, where most of them bought a bar of their favourite chocolate from the many they had tried during the tour. This informative and action-packed day allowed our pupils to gain an invaluable insight into the artistry and dedication required to create high-quality chocolate. They learned about the origin and processing of the key ingredients, as well as the scientific nature of the manufacturing process itself. All in all, everyone hugely enjoyed their visit to the Zotter Chocolate Factory and there was certainly enough of the good stuff on offer to satisfy even the biggest sweet tooth. Mark Polatajko Year 3 teacher