Know your limits (Day 11)

Today it was raining and we thought we'd take our activities indoors. We visited the Cailler chocolate factory in Broc, about 45 minutes from our house. Even though they've been acquired by Nestle International (which apparently produces at least one food product that we consume every day), they've held on to their original recipes. Their chocolate is set apart by virtue of the fact that they use condensed milk instead of milk powder. One bite of Cailler chocolate and everything else is but a waste of your tastebuds' time.

Not surprisingly, chocolate tasting is a component of the factory tour that they offer here. I won't say much more than this: even the pleasure of eating Swiss chocolate has its limits. I'll say one other thing: these limits are very, very, very difficult to observe. Yada, yada, yada, an hour after our arrival, we all had brown mouths and aching stomachs.



Just look at those brown beauties. How can one possibly resist??? Although a white chocolate specimen isn't shown here, you could actually taste the dairy in each bite. Amazing.








The table of endless delight.
This was right at the beginning of the chocolate-fest. These are the faces of pure pleasure. (This was not to last.)

Here are a few shots of the machinery used over the past 100 or so years to transform cocoa beans, milk, sugar, and all the other good stuff into fine Swiss chocolate. A feat of engineering. This is mankind at its best.

Immediately following the tour, Danielle and I were wondering if we would ever eat chocolate again. Hours later, we were starting to entertain the possibility that we would. The next day, we were ready to pack up the car and head back to the factory.

What a great way to spend a rainy day.