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If your idea of a swell time is baking chocolate delicacies and your favorite beverage is hot cocoa, it's a good bet that a chocolate factory tour will be a treat in more ways than one. Seeing how your favorite food gets made can be a valuable yet inexpensive (if not low-calorie) experience. These 10 chocolate companies invite visitors to sample chocolate for free, or the price of a tour.
Theo Chocolate takes pride in its organic, fair-trade operations. More than 50,000 visitors a year pour into the factory to learn the creation story of the company's chocolate confections. A $10 fee buys visitors a walk through the factory with free samples at the end. Theo also offers a special $8 deal just for kids, which features a story about chocolate, a child-friendly tour, and, of course, chocolate treats.
Visit Taza Chocolate to watch the making of stone-ground chocolate and sample the goods. The company uses Mexican stone mills to grind the cacao, leaving the finished chocolate with a gritty and bold flavor that chocolate connoisseurs appreciate. Tours run seven days a week and cost $8 a person. There’s also a kid-centric tour offered on weekends for $6. Online reservations are required.
Lake Champlain Chocolates has been creating sweet confections since 1983. The company relies on ingredients sourced from local farmers and food producers whenever possible, and is fair-trade and social-accountability certified. A free factory tour runs weekdays and offers plenty of free chocolate samples. The company also welcomes chocolate lovers to free tastings on select weekends.
In the heart of San Francisco's Mission District is a small bean-to-bar chocolate factory that creates artisanal single-origin bars with beans sourced directly from farmers. The factory features an in-house café, and customers can take a tour after business hours to learn about (and taste) each step of the chocolate-making process. The tour costs $5 and includes a gift card for a hot cocoa at the café.
As if there isn't enough reason to spend time in Hawaii, free local chocolate is the (chocolate) icing on the cake. A recipient of multiple awards, Madre Chocolate is known for a variety of fruity and spicy flavors. Farm-to-factory tours are offered on select Sundays in the summer, but at $50 for adults, frugal consumers might want to head straight to the store for freebies.
DeBrand Fine Chocolates is all about producing fillings, such as ganache, caramel, and creams, to pair with different varieties of chocolate sourced from around the world. The company has been selling chocolate confections since 1987 and operates three shops in Indiana. DeBrand offers tours at its Fort Wayne headquarters for $5 a person, sampling included, along with a $5 discount on purchases of $10 or more.
Videri makes handcrafted bean-to-bar chocolate in four flagship flavors: dark milk, classic dark, pink peppercorn, and sea salt. Other varieties are also available. The company welcomes visitors to the factory for free self-guided tours through the production facility — with samples, of course.
Each bar of Askinosie chocolate sports a number on the packaging that customers can enter on the company's website to unlock the bar's farm-to-store origins. Askinosie runs a "chocolate university" that engages with schools to teach students about the chocolate business, from the farm to the factory, and introduce them to the communities where cacao beans are grown. The university is funded by the company's weekly tours ($5 for adults, $4 for students). They explain the chocolate-making process with plenty of sampling along the way.
The Mast Brothers (who are, indeed, brothers) have been pilloried for selling industrial chocolate under a "bean-to-bar" label while launching their business. Still, the Brooklyn factory remains a destination. For a $10 fee, chocolate lovers get up close and personal with cacao beans — touching them, cracking them, and watching the roasting process. At the end of the tour, visitors can taste different varieties of chocolate and experience how the beans create different flavors. Tours are on hold until spring 2019, so check the website for updates.
Visit the home of the Hershey bar to take a journey through the creation of chocolate candy, starting with the bean and ending with the final delights. The 30-minute tour is free, and visitors can enjoy free chocolate samples at the end. While there, explore the rest of Hershey's Chocolate World, which features imaginative chocolate-related activities (for a price), from do-it-yourself chocolate bars to an interactive chocolate mystery.