| Chocolate facts | - Aztec Indians used cocoa beans to prepare a drink called "chocolatl", meaning "warm liquid
- The Spanish first came across chocolate when they invaded the Aztec Kingdom - the kept the recipe for making chocolate secret from 100 years
- The first chocolate was drunk, and it wasn't until 1847 that an English company introduced solid "eating" chocolate
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Imagine spending your whole day working with great big pans full of chocolate and turning them into all sorts of delicious sweets. That's the life a chocolatier and you'd imagine someone like Ben Boyle, who runs the Herefordshire based sweet manufacturer The Velvet Bean, would spend all day sampling his wares. Not so apparently - he's rather gone off the whole experience of eating chocolate. "I very rarely eat chocolate now – when I make a new flavour I taste it but generally speaking I don’t eat a lot now. "We do have some single variety beans that we get, and those are the only ones that I’ll eat now." He does love his work though - and Easter is one of the busiest times of the year. "It’s pretty busy – I’d say it’s on a par with Christmas – people are a bit more indulgent at Christmas and they think about it a bit more in advance. "Whereas with Easter people think about it a week before hand and then they rush out and buy their eggs and rabbits and that sort of stuff."
 | | Hand made chocolates - yummie |
His shop is filled with exotic creations made from chocolate, including fish, rabbits, shells and even a high-heeled shoe. "A lot of people look for something a bit different other than eggs these days, especially if they’re coming to a specialist chocolate maker – they want something a little bit different." Ben used to be a landscape gardener, but decided he wanted to indulge his passion for cooking, and was inspired by the specialist chocolate shops he saw on the continent.
 | | Ben Boyle - chocolatier |
"There’s a lot of market for fancy cheeses, olives, that sort of stuff, and if you go over on the continent it’s full of little chocolate shops, patisseries, so that was the sort of market I was aiming for." You can see a photo gallery of Ben at work by clicking on the link under SEE ALSO at the top right hand of this page. If you want to see him working first hand you need to go to the Hop Pocket Shopping Village at Bishop's Frome, in Herefordshire. | 
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