Author: Heather
Category: Travel
Published Date: 04/25/2018
Comments: 68
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During our recent stay in St. Augustine, FL, we were provided with tickets to so many fun tours and attractions by the St. Augustine Visitors and Convention Bureau. I’m continuing our “Things to Do in Florida” series with one of our favorites, the Whetstone Chocolate Tasting Tour in St. Augustine, FL.
Not many people know this, but when I was in college, I worked in a chocolate factory. It was probably one of the most challenging jobs ever. Not because it was hard work, but because it was hard to contain myself from eating everything. The smell was not only amazing, but it stayed with you throughout the day. We were taught to make truffles, molded chocolates and all kinds of delicious treats. The bosses had just a few rules:
- If you break it, you eat it.
- You must lick the chocolate off of your hands before washing them thoroughly with soap and water.
- You must help yourself to any chocolates in the back room while you’re working.
It was a hard job, but someone had to do it.
When I found out that there was a chocolate tasting tour in St. Augustine, I knew that we HAD to go. St. Augustine’s “Original Chocolate Tour” is led by Whetstone Chocolatiers. You will be introduced to the history and making of chocolate and the Whetstone story. A 4-tiered tasting distinguishes the characteristics of their dark, milk and white chocolate, cocoa nibs and more. Taste freshly made chocolates and confections while you walk through the factory. This tour is for the chocoholic with a discriminating palate searching for the subtleties that define artisan chocolates.
The tour starts off at the very beginning and takes you through exactly how chocolate is made. Our tour was led by a gentleman who was not only funny, but so knowledgable. He had no trouble answering my kids questions, as over the top and crazy as they were. Before you walk into the actually factory, you are asked to wear these fashionable hair nets. I couldn’t help but notice how cute Falynn looked in hers. I may or may not have taken a few too many pictures of her in it.
One thing we didn’t have at our factory were these cool machines. That’s probably because the owner of Whetstone Chocolates was actually an engineer. He designed and built machines especially for his factory. So while we were spending our days pouring chocolate into molds and banging out the air bubbles, Whetstone’s Chocolate factory can do so much more with a machine that knows exactly how much chocolate to fill and then another machine that wraps the chocolates in these pretty foil wrappers.
On this particular day, they were working on key lime chocolates and we were lucky enough to get to try one. I’ll be honest with you, I’m not a huge fan of fruity chocolates for some reason. I love chocolate covered strawberries and chocolate covered apples but key lime wasn’t something I had ever tried before. It was actually really good. I even considered buying a bag when we were leaving.
So once you’re done with the tour, you are escorted out through their store. By that time, you’ve tasted each of their chocolates (white, milk, and different types of dark) and have a pretty good idea of which one(s) you loved the most. Since each adult ticket to the chocolate tasting tour includes a $2 coupon towards any purchase, we had some coupons to use. Everyone that knows me, knows that I love a good deal. Who could pass that up?! We each wound up getting one package of our favorite thing and may or may not have finished it all by the time we got home, 5 hours later.
Oh and if you’re not a huge chocolate eater, you may enjoy their liqueur sauces which include chocolate amaretto wine, chocolate cabernet, butterscotch scotch and dark chocolate espresso. And there’s even a little tasting bar if you aren’t sure which one you’d like the best. They also have hot cocoa mix and other fun gift options!
The Whetstone Chocolate Tasting Tour was definitely a decadently delicious experience! If you aren’t heading to St. Augustine any time soon, don’t worry. You can shop online and they will ship directly to you! If you are heading to St. Augustine, make sure to stay at the TRYP by Wyndham.
Have you ever been to a chocolate factory? Comment below and share your experience!
Hello There!
Hi! I’m Heather, Mom of 3, professional snack opener, the only person who knows where everything is in my house and part-time magician (I can turn a bunch of candy into a gift basket and everyone thinks it’s amazing). I share a mix of parenting moments, easy recipes, crafts, and DIY home decor projects.
Around here, we love turning ordinary stuff into extraordinary gifts, from candy box baskets and birthday punch boards to homemade advent calendars and other crafty chaos that somehow always works out.
Welcome to The Super Mom Life — where the projects are fun, the coffee is strong, and the laughter is pretty much required for survival. Don't forget to follow us on social media!
Very interesting post! I really like to watch how they produce chocolates – it’s beautiful process 🙂 And Florida is on my travel “to do list” as well. Maybe I’d take my Daughter for the tour like this, but as far as she’s infant I don’t give any sweets 🙂
Btw. When you hit to Europe, I highly recommend you to go to Belgium and Ukraine. Belgian chocolate is famous all around the world not without a reason. And in Lviv (Ukraine) there’s great manufacture 🙂
As a chocolate fiend, I would not be able to contain myself during this tour! I find it really interesting that the owner designed the machines himself. Looks like you and your kids had a great time!
A chocolate tasting tour is something that always makes me happy. I always go on one when I’m at home. I hope you had fun and that you enjoyed it! 😀
Look of your little girl says everything! 🙂 🙂 That’t the look I have when I see chocolate in front of me.
I’ve never been to a chocolate factory but think it would be super cool to! I know my family would love it too!
This looks like such a fun thing to do for families! My daughters would love learning about chocolate. And CHOCOLATE – how could this not be the best thing ever?! We will definitely add it to our travel stop list!
Now this is my kind of traveling! A chocolate factory tour! We have one in St. Louis where I live and can you believe that I haven’t been on it yet??? Must add it to my summer list.