Our last stop for the day was the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory in Burlington. This wasn't listed in our "Watch it Made in the USA" book but we couldn't pass up the chance to watch chocolate being made, just in case they gave away samples. Yummy.
You observe the chocolate-making process from a small glass observation deck in the back of the store. The truffle line wasn't working, but chocolate pumpkins and cats were being molded. For Halloween, of course. The pumpkin faces were painted in orange-tinted white chocolate, then the mold was filled with milk chocolate. The other half of the mold was attached and it was attached to a rotating drum which coated the other half. And that is how hollow chocolate pumpkins are made.
The company has an interesting story. The owner had an upscale restaurant on the harbor and gave his staff boxes of chocolates for Christmas. His chef told him they really weren't very good and the owner said "So make something better." The chef did, they served the at Sunday brunch to great acclaim, and to make a long story short, a candy company was started and, eventually, the restaurant was sold.
Of course we got free samples before we visited the factory seconds section. Back to Toby with happy chocolate smiles on our faces.
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