Let’s face it:  chocolate is one of life’s greatest pleasures – all over the world people love chocolate.

Selection of different chocolates

It has been the inspiration for novelists and filmmakers to produce wonderful movies like “Chocolat” and “Chocolate Factory” and because of its provocative and intoxicating flavour, chocolate has become known as “the food of the gods and the symbol of love”.

Gourmet gifts of handmade chocolates are given to friends, family and lovers on some of our most celebrated occasions like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

Chocolate has been seducing us for centuries beginning with the Mayan Indians of Mexico who were amongst the first chocolate lovers to believe it was a gift from the gods — a sentiment still shared by many of us today.

Chocolate is a sensual indulgence for women as it portrays images of love and romance and for this reason it has become a way for men to show their appreciation and love for the women in their lives.

 Having said that, you’d be surprised how many men harbour a secret passion for chocolate – they see it as a nutritious and filling treat and are often the first to put their hands out when the chocolates are offered! 

It doesn’t matter whether you are a lover of chocolate or a giver of chocolate you will nevertheless be aware of the immense pleasure it brings to yourself and others.

Now imagine this!

How would you feel if you received a box of beautiful hand crafted chocolates delivered to your door every month?  Not only on special occasions…

It is the ultimate gift – the one that keeps on giving – what a wonderful way to show your appreciation and love for someone with a gift of handmade chocolates arriving at monthly intervals.

Now that really is something quite special!

What a treasured gift – membership to The Chocolate Club where the members get to sample new products and share thoughts and ideas with a ‘family’ of chocolate lovers.  You also get to be the first to try new products and limited editions of exquisite handmade chocolates – oh what envy!

The Chocolate Club was created to introduce its members to the world of chocolate and take them on an adventure, delight their tastebuds and introduce new taste sensations –  this is what The Chocolate Club is all about.  It is a lovely way to sample, taste and learn more about chocolate as you partake in some special treats as a member of a special club for chocolate lovers.

As a member you receive the value of a monthly subscription of carefully selected chocolates created by our Chocolatier and there are other benefits as your membership gains in longevity.

What a wonderful idea for Mother’s Day or as a special gift for yourself or a friend?  A membership to The Chocolate Club. You will absolutely love our Chocolatier’s monthly selection of mouth watering treats created with you in mind.  You get to sample new products, be the first on pre-launches, give feedback and have some fun – and of course at the same time – indulge in your not so guilty pleasure!

People often ask – what is the best chocolate?

 “The best chocolate in the world remains the one that will give you the most pleasure the moment you eat it, provided you take time to fully savour it.” 

This is according to Le Bel (a self-confessed chocolate lover who recently wrote the introduction to Gastronomie et Fôret, voted the best cookbook in the world for 2003)…

Click here to join or give the gift of a membership to The Chocolate Club.

Let us know what your favourite flavours are so we too can share your thoughts with all of us.

Richard was the first of the TVNZ breakfast weather team to arrive at 5.15am with all the tech gear followed closely by Hailey with the cameras.  With Lucas and Alex not far behind the crew spent a bit of time deciding on the best place to position themselves and the gear to capture the day’s events.

The House of Chocolate team – Renata, Margaret, Thin, Ilham, Madison and I were primed and ready to go at 6am – Theresa joined us a little later.

The plan was to start at the front of the factory to give the TVNZ crew an introduction and explanation about the House of Chocolate and work our way through the chocolate making process, ending with a personalized egg handmade by Lucas for his niece  – he was very excited about this!

Our visitors were fascinated by the huge chocolate machines oozing with thick, dark, shiny, melted chocolate – can you imagine how good this smells?

We were told that Tamati would be joining us so in anticipation of his visit and for a bit of fun we made him a large Easter Bunny and called him Tamati.  Tamati (the bunny) joined us on the tour of the building and this created lots of silliness and laughter.

Time for Lucas to get kitted out to make his Easter egg – apron, hat and hand washing were all undertaken.

We introduced him to our pre-chocolate making cleaning ritual – the happy birthday song – which is sung to the washing of hands – by the time we have completed the song the cleaning process is complete and smiling faces are ready for business.

The first task for Lucas was to break the big slab of chocolate – this is a daily ritual and Renata had the pleasure of showing him how to do it.  It was a good attempt by Lucas but instead of the chocolate breaking into small pieces, it just cracked…  Renata stepped in and showed him how we professionals do it!

Lucas was very much hands on in making his Easter egg and provided us with lots of laughs.

His first few attempts at pouring chocolate into the mould proved a bit tricky, but after a few test runs he got it right.  When the chocolate was set Lucas chose some of our delicious handmade chocolate truffles and other gorgeous chocolates to put inside the egg.  The last part was the best… and the trickiest… writing his niece’s name on the chocolate egg.  He did very well for a first attempt and we told him if he ever got sick of his day job he could come and work for House of Chocolate.

We reckon with a bit of training he’d be pretty good!

While all this was happening the House of Chocolate girls explained the process required to make the chocolate and gave a demonstration of some of the techniques and methods they use to produce the beautiful artisan chocolates.

They also made some lovely personalized Easter eggs and sent them into the studio for the breakfast show hosts Corin and Petra to give their children for Easter.

By this time all the locals were lining up to see what was happening in their community and we finished up on a high with everyone eating lots of chocolates and agreeing that this was the best way to start the day.

One of the local kids from the neighbourhood saw us on TV and came down to the House of Chocolate and was lucky to get on the telly with us – that was fun!

We had an awesome day – the TVNZ crew were great, relaxed, friendly and loads of fun – really getting into the spirit of the day with us and participating and interacting with everyone.  In fact they had such a good time they want to come and do it all over again next year.

As for us?  We loved it.  Most of the time we were reduced to tears with everyone laughing and cracking jokes.  It truly was a fun day.

Another highlight of the day!  Madi left the shenanigans partway through the day to do her driving test and returned with her full licence – well done Madi!

Richard turned up on his Harley the following day with a disk full of photos he had taken for us.  Come on over to our Facebook page and see some of the “behind the scenes” pictures of the day courtesy of Richard.

Our special thanks to host Lucas de Jong, and the crew Richard, Alex & Hayley – it was great to meet them all and you couldn’t find a better bunch of people to spend your early morning with.

Lucas is off overseas shortly and we all wish him a very enjoyable and safe adventure!

‘Tamati’ was sent off to his namesake after the show and a special thank you from the real Tamati brought a close to a fabulous day.

Next Easter we will be offering all our lovely customers at House of Chocolate something special.

You will be able to order your own personalized eggs to give to your friends and family.   You will also be able to choose your favourite chocolates to go inside the egg – from premier truffles, exquisite handmade fillings, truffle logs, rocky road, coconut rough, clusters and much more!

We would love to hear your Easter chocolate stories!  Share your experiences with us by leaving a comment.

For Christians it is their most important day as it signifies the end of death and the rebirth of life as they reflect, remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.   For others it’s a time to get together with family and friends to relax and enjoy the holiday and for children, mostly it’s all about chocolate Easter eggs.

Whatever your reason for celebrating Easter it’s a wonderful time for families to come together and Easter eggs are a big part of the celebrations enjoyed by everyone.

Just mention the word “chocolate” and see what happens to people – mouths start to water, eyes light up, faces break into smiles and hands twitch in readiness to take another chocolate from the box.  Chocolate, for obvious reasons, has a reputation like no other food.

Easter is the perfect time to indulge yourself and others with the “food of gods” and with the incredible range of handmade chocolates available today, you can savour and appreciate a large variety of beautiful artisan chocolates very easily.

What is Easter without a chocolate bunny?  Have you ever paused between mouthfuls of delicious chocolate to ponder the origins of the Easter egg and the bunny filled holiday we all love”?

From what I can gather, it dates back to a German tradition where a ‘magical rabbit’ called an “osterhase” would lay a nest of coloured eggs for the children, only if they had been very good!  It was in the 1700’s that Pennsylvania Dutch settlers took this tradition to America.

Eggs have always been a symbol of birth and therefore associated with life and celebrations.

In the 600s, Pope Gregory the Great forbade eating of eggs during Lent (which is the 40 days leading up to Easter) and of course this helped make eggs a special treat when Easter finally arrived.  Many European cultures still embrace an old custom of decorating eggs and giving them as gifts at Easter.

It was in the 19^th century that Easter eggs became chocolate and were produced mainly in Germany and France.   At this time the custom spread across America and today the fabled Easter bunny delivers its chocolate Easter eggs and other types of chocolate and gifts all over the world where chocolate is universally loved.

We have all experienced the pleasure of giving a special treat to someone we cherish and love and Easter is the perfect time to do this with beautifully presented handmade chocolates chosen for their quality and handcrafted tradition.  It surely is one of the best ways to show your love and appreciation to someone.

Our chocolate selection includes chocolate eggs, chocolate truffles, liqueur chocolates, fruit sensations, clusters, chocolate peanuts, chocolate fudge and many more delicious morsels for you to indulge and savour.  You can even get a chocolate bunny on a stick for the children!  And for someone who has been very very good… add a little surprise to their gift with a soft toy rabbit.

If, for some crazy reason you could be feeling some sort of “chocolate guilt” at Easter here’s some facts to ease your conscience.

• Chocolate makes us feel better – The smell of chocolate has been found to slow down brain waves, making us feel calm.
• Chocolate can make you more alert as it contains a stimulant called theobromine, a caffeine-like substance thought to make us more alert without the side-effect of giving us the jitters
• Chocolate is nutritious – A 50g bar of plain chocolate contains 1.2mg of iron and 45mg of magnesium. And milk chocolate is a reasonable source of calcium – a 50g bar contains 110mg.

So whether you eat chocolate because of it’s rich creamy texture and sweet taste or because you’re convinced of its health benefits, there is no shortage of exquisite handmade chocolates here at House of Chocolate ready to melt in your mouth.

We have something special for everyone.   Come on over to the Easter selection and choose a beautiful Easter basket for the Easter bunny to deliver.

We make shopping online for your Easter gifts easy at the House of Chocolate – wrapping is free and we will present your Easter gift box to perfection.  Let us know if you have any special requests.

Fun Chocolate Facts:  Did you know…

The reason chocolate melts in our mouths and our hands is because cocoa butter’s melting point is just below the normal human body temperature.

We would love to know what your favourite Easter chocolate is?  Let us know by leaving a comment.

But recent research shows that chocolate provides a natural form of health-promoting substances called flavonoids, these help prevent heart disease and cancer.

Chocolate contains antioxidants and this fact alone has generated a lot of interest as studies show that these compounds are more powerful antioxidants than EGCG in tea, which is a strong antioxidant.

Up until recently we were never made aware of the amazing health benefits of this incredible little bean, not to mention the fascinating allure and irresistible flavour of chocolate.

Chocolate has been a source of nourishment for many decades and it has only in recent years – much to the delight of the entire world – been declared that this truly decadent substance is actually good for us!

But more of the healthy stuff in a later post…

Cacoa Beans

It is believed that Christopher Columbus first brought cacoa beans to Europe sometime between 1502 and 1504 on his fourth visit to the “New World”.  Columbus discovered the cacoa bean when he robbed the cargo of a Mayan trader somewhere near modern Honduras.

He didn’t actually know what the beans were and thought they were a kind of almond.  He was aware however, that someone else thought they might be valuable, so he took them not realizing at the time what magnificent jewel had fallen into his lap!

The Cacoa is an evergreen tree plant cultivated over 3,000 years ago by the Aztec Maya and Tilted civilizations of Mexico.

The seed or beans were used to prepare a beverage called “chocolatl” which we now know as hot chocolate and was originally consumed by Aztec royalty and described as the “food of gods”.

Now the beans are used to produce the chocolate and cocoa we eat and drink today.

Chocolatl was made by mixing with water, cornmeal, chili peppers and other ingredients, but it never contained sugar as this was unknown to the Aztec people.   The pot of chocolatl was stirred with a “molinillo” (a stick with shaped paddles) to make it frothy.

As you can see the original concoction bears very little resemblance to the increasingly popular drink we now know as “hot chocolate”.

Most “chocoholics” or experts use the word “cacoa” when they refer to the plant or beans while the word “chocolate” relates to anything made from the beans and “cocoa” is usually the name for chocolate in a powdered form.

The history of the cacoa bean continues to uncover more health benefits as more research recognizes just how wonderful this delicious food is to our health.

Must go off to get my daily fix……