Halloren Chocolate Factory!

 

Today we went to Halloren Chocolote Factory, the oldest chocolate factory in Germany! The first mention of the firm is recorded in 1804. It is in Halle, Saxoney-Anhalt. We got a tour of the factory and museum and learned a lot of history of not only Halloren, but chocolate in general. Chocolate was first found by the Olmec, and then treasured by the Mayan. They made a very bitter drink out of the cocoa beans that was for men only, to make them happy, and "strong." To the left is a picture of a cocoa pod.  

Then these are what is inside, Cocoa beans. These pods grow on trees which produce fruit all year, although only 2kg I believe per tree. The tour guide said an average German eats 10 kg a year of chocolate.

She gave us all some cocoa beans to break open and taste. The flavor was about what I expected....bitter. basically like cocoa powder that you bake with.

This is a chocolate mold of a cake. 

This is a chocolate mold of the what the original factory looked like. It was much larger than the one is today because during WWII the factory was forced to stop making chocolates and start making aircraft and things for the military. The Allies found out about this and bombed their factory. 

On the left is an original mold of a chocolate bunny that were sold in the 1920s. This would have been afforded only be the rich, as the same amount that it would have taken to buy one of these bunnies would have also bought 23 sandwiches.

On the left is an advertisement from the 30s. Notice how the boy is charming the girl with his right and hand trying to steal her chocolates with the other. The tour guide said, "Girls this is a lesson for life, what out for that other hand." haha Now some more history. When Hitler took over, the factory was under a lot of pressure because the owners had a Jewish name. Thankfully they were able to show that only their name was Jewish, but they came from Aryan and German descent. This was a very big deal because it saved the factory. Even so, the factory had to change it's name and also make up a name for the plant manager that was German so that on paper Halloren was a German factory. After this was done sales improved because before no one felt safe buying from a Jewish company.

On the left is the world largest Halloren-Kugeln. It weighs 200 kg and is in the book of world records.

So of course I had to take my picture with it! This chocolate is Halloren's signature chocolate. When the GDR was formed it took over this factory. They didn't worry with improving and buying new equipment so at one point they only had only one machine working. Therefore, they could only make one kind of chocolate. They made the Halloren-Kugeln. "It didn't matter if things would break, as long as they were producing something," the tour guide said. Because of this East German chocolate factories were far behind West Germany. The only way to get West German chocolate was if someone in the West had a shop in East Germany with Western chocolate, but you had to pay with Western currency which was difficult to get. The other way was if you had relatives living in the West you might have sent you some chocolate once a year or so. The tour guide said she remembers growing up seeing commercials from the West of their chocolates and sweets and of course other things too, and just longing for them, wondering if she would ever get to have any of it. Many East Germans felt this way, and so when the wall came down people took the money they were saving and bought the things they had always wanted. Because of this the Halloren Chocolate Factory was in danger of going out of business. Thankfully people did still buy their Kugelns to buy time for them to improve. Today they make over 100 kinds of chocolates!

 In the museum there were molds of different buildings and other things, which was really neat.

























All of these buildings are from Halle where the factory is located. It was about an hour busride from Leipzig.

Apparently you can get molds done of your body here. I don't know if that is what this is, but it might be. How weird...and awkward!








Before the tour guide showed us this one, she asked if we wanted to meet one of her colleagues that she hated. She told us the weight of this one, and said, "that's why I hate her." haha.











There was also a chocolate room. Pretty much everything made of chocolate, even the wallpaper! The couch, chandelier, and table weren't, but the picture frames, piano, vase are!








At the end of the tour she brought out samples!! We even got to have more than one. I one one filled with jelly which was weird, I didn't really like that one. The others were really good though. You can see all the hands grabbing for the chocolates. It was a frenzy when she brought out that tray for sure!

These are two different flavors of the Halloren-Kugeln. On the left tasted a little like coffee and the right was white chocolate and raspberry I think.









After the tour we got a presentation. One of the Chocolatiers, Andrea Schmidt, showed us how to make some chocolate. He melted the white chocolate and showed us how to tempure it so that it would dry shiny and taste smooth. Then he added poppy see and cranberries and spread it on wax paper. It looked really good!

Then Andrea gave us a present! Macaroons inside :) 

This is inside the Chocolate shop.

  Andrea is at work. He said he made those molds of the buildings that I showed you earlier, he made! What an awesome guy. We became friends, he helped me pick out my chocolates.  

I've got presents!! There were so many flavors. Lots of them were cocktail flavored and then the more traditional flavors like caramel and butter creme. So there is something to look forward to my coming back in a few weeks, besides my wonderful presence....of course. We got back here about 2pm. I took a nap and then I think we are about to go roam around downtown. We are dismissed for the weekend. A group of about 13 of us are going to the Bavarian Alps. We'll see a couple of famous castles and possibly mountain bike. I think it'll be really fun! We leave tomorrow morning and return Sunday. I'll bring my laptop this time though since we are in a much safer hotel. That way everyone will be updated daily! Winegeart said next week will be more academic stuff, blah. I do think we are going to visit a concentration camp though, which will be a good experience for sure. Then after next week we leave Leipzig Sunday for Berlin for a few days, then straight to Oxford. This trip is flying!