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York serves up extra helpings of cocoa for National Chocolate Week

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13-19 October 2014

There’s only one place for chocoholics next week and that’s York, birthplace of the KitKat, Smarties and Terry’s Chocolate Orange, and Britain’s home of chocolate.

During National Chocolate Week (13-19 October), this already sweet city will be in chocolate overdrive enabling visitors to eat, drink, make and learn about more chocolate than ever, as well as offering calorie-free opportunities to breathe, walk – and even wash in chocolate too!

Chocolate make-over for Yorkshire’s favourite flavours

In a one-week taste experience not to be missed, Yorkshire’s finest flavours, including ginger parkin, rhubarb and Wensleydale cheese, will be given a chocolate makeover by the chocolatiers at York’s CHOCOLATE Story, where visitors can also discover chocolate’s origins, how to make it, how to taste like an expert and make their own chocolate creation to take home.

Meet the chocolate experts and sample their wares

How do chocolatiers make chocolates taste and look so sublime? Learn the tricks of the trade at the ‘Meet Our Chocolate Expert’ events being hosted by world-famous Bettys at their celebrated Café Tea Rooms at St Helen’s Square, on Monday 14 October, and Stonegate, Sunday 20 October (both from 11.00am-12.00pm). Experts from their Chocolate Team will be talking about how they craft their delicious chocolates and answering questions.

Throughout National Chocolate Week Bettys will also be offering chocolate samples, including Champagne Truffles, Vanilla Caramel Hearts and Piedmont Hazelnut Pralines, and a Chocolate Tasting Plate, consisting of a tasting-size Hot Chocolate, Bettys’ rich Cru Sauvage Truffle made with rare Bolivian cocoa, a dainty Chocolate Macaroon and a miniature handmade Chocolate Brownie (available between 6- 19 October).

Tales of Terrys, the Chocolate Factory and more  

As well as telling the story of the Terry family and the confectionary they made in their famous chocolate factory, Goddard’s (home to Noel Terry and his family from 1927-1980) will be holding blindfolded taste tests of chocolates, chocolate box design competitions and offering chocolate trails for families.

The forgotten art of hand dipping – remembered!

Witness the traditional skills of chocolate making in the production kitchen at York’s CHOCOLATE Story as the team of chocolatiers demonstrate the forgotten art of hand-dipping chocolate – the technique used before machines aided chocolate manufacturing. At its peak, over 14,000 people worked in York’s chocolate factories.

Calorie-free chocolate experiences

York’s fat-free chocolate experiences include:

  • Wash in chocolate! – ‘chocolate’ soap handmade in York by the Yorkshire Soap Company uses cocoa butter as an ingredient and is available as a cupcake, truffles or a slice of cake

  • Walk chocolate - enjoy a delicious walk through York’s rich and colourful history of chocolate and all things sweet on the Chocolate Trail or follow the famous footsteps of Rowntree on the Rowntree Trail

  • Breathe chocolate – the smell of chocolate being made in the Nestle factory fills the air in the city streets

  • Learn the skill of chocolate making – book on a free workshop at the York Cocoa House and find out about the chocolate making process, from grinding cocoa beans to making a chocolate bar. Places for the one-hour workshops (Monday 13 to Friday 17, 5.00pm-6.00pm) must be booked in advance.

    ‘When it comes to chocolate nowhere compares with York. York’s reputation as the city of chocolate dates back to the 20thcentury when Joseph Rowntree and Joseph Terry set up shop, and continues today through the local artisan chocolate makers and skilled chocolatiers that fill York's restaurants, shops and hotels with the most delectable cakes, pastries, chocolates and desserts,’ said Kate McMullen, Head of Visit York.

    For more information about the many different ways to enjoy chocolate in York or to book a delicious chocolate break in York, go to visityork.org/chocolate ENDS

Did you know this about York? York’s Sweet, Chocolatey Facts...

  1. 6 million Kit Kats are produced in York every day – over 1 billion every year.
  2. Top chocolate brands such as Kit Kat, Aero, Smarties, After Eight, Yorkie, Chocolate Orange and Black Magic were all created in York
  3. The Rowntree factory once employed 14,000 staff, employing teachers and gardeners as well as the factory workers
  4. In 1856 the team of apprentices working in the Rowntree’s Grocers included a young Mr Cadbury and a young Mr Fry.
  5. Rowntree’s owned York’s first motor car, they created a giant can of Cocoa Elect to promote the brand. The public would come from miles around to see the spectacle. It once broke down in Sheffield city centre, the drivers were arrested for being a nuisance. The giant tin of cocoa would make it top heavy, it would often fall over.
  6. Terry’s first created the Chocolate Apple before the iconic Chocolate Orange.
  7. The competitive rivalry between Cadbury and Rowntree’s is thought to have inspired Roald Dahl to create Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Dahl went to school in Derbyshire, do you think it could have been a school trip to the Rowntree factory that shaped his imagination?
  8. At Christmas 1914 The Lord Mayor and Sheriff generously sent a bar of Rowntrees chocolate to every York man fighting in the Great War. One of these tins with the original chocolate bar inside can be seen at the Mansion House.
  9. A tin of Rowntree’s Elect Cocoa was taken by Shackleton to the Antarctic in 1908 in was discovered completely intact 50 years later and is now housed in the Nestle archives in York, its taste was pronounced to be in “excellent condition”.
  10. Rowntree’s had two cheeky children who were mascots for the company; “The Cocoa Nibs”
  11. Plain ‘Mr York’ was an iconic automated character introduced in the 1920s; Mr York of York, Yorks, was featured in the first animated advertisement with sound and promoted the Motoring Chocolate bar with a wide range of merchandise created to promote Mr York and Rowntree’s. He became world famous - a major celebrity of his era!   
  12. A York bar of chocolate was once presented to the then Princess Elizabeth, it was made with Cocoa, Sugar and Vanilla all grown in the atrium at the Rowntree factory. The Queen was the first person to ever receive a bar of entirely English chocolate. Nestle in York also has some rare footage of the Queen's father on a visit to the Rowntree's works in 1920 and the factory has had the Royal Warrant since the days of Queen Victoria. 

For more media information and images please contact:

Kay Hyde, Head of Communications, Visit York. Tel: 01904 554451. Email: kh@visityork.org

Katie Parsons, Senior Communications Executive, Visit York. Tel: 01904 554436. Email: kp@visityork.org

Notes to editors

When was the last time you had a first time? Discover York for the first time in 2014 - visit www.visityork.org/first and book your accommodation with Visit York for an exclusive 20% discount off a 3 day York Pass.

About Visit York

  • Visit York is supported by the City of York Council and over 700 tourism businesses and works in partnership with VisitEngland.

  • Visit York's aim is to market York as a must-see world-class destination to the leisure and business visitor, and ensure investment to develop the quality of tourism in York. Visit York is responsible for leisure and conference marketing, visitor services (running the city's Visitor Information Centre), training and ensuring a quality visitor experience.  

  • Visit York is the driving force of the city's tourism industry. Key facts: 7 million visitors annually, £606 million total visitor spend, supporting 20,000 jobs.

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