Become an expert on chocolate
This week’s educational travel tour gives the senior group a fabulous opportunity to experience Belgian chocolate, see how it’s made, what ingredients it derives from and we learn that it is much more than something enjoyable to eat. Place a piece of this delectable treat in your mouth, close your eyes and savour the smooth texture, rich blended taste and delight it brings you as you enjoy eating it. Supposedly, during the days of the Aztecs, this luxury was reserved for the nobility, warriors and priests. Apparently the Aztecs and Mayans thought it created wisdom and vitality and used it for religious ceremonies. 
Today, dark chocolate allegedly provides health benefits to the people who eat it. Our popular bars and other similar items usually consist of sweet or milk chocolate. The white variety doesn’t contain cocoa solids, only cocoa butter, sugar and milk and so is not considered “true” even though it is a favourite for many people. When deciding what we want to learn on this subject we should first differentiate between chocolate-makers and chocolatiers. A maker uses dried cocoa beans along with specialized equipment and formulas to create different blends and tastes. A chocolatier creates new recipes from what the makers produce. This is the reason why we have so many different scrumptious goods and why they all taste so different.
Traveling to Belgium should be high on the list of countries to visit when exploring the history and manufacturing of this delicacy. Belgium is well known for its excellent cooking schools offering wonderful learning opportunities for senior travel groups or senior travel clubs. Discovering the origin of cocoa, how it has developed over hundreds of years and manufactured into the products we know and love today is truly remarkable. The single senior traveler will definitely not be left out since most schools also accept individual students into their classrooms. Not to be dismissed are the culinary tours and cooking schools in Switzerland, Australia, Singapore, France and the United States. Or if the senior is an armchair traveler there are many courses offered 100% online that will make you an expert on the subject so you can dazzle your family with wonderful delightful products they would never expect.
Many of the popular manufactures offer tours, demonstrations and tasting opportunities for anyone who visits their site. Maybe attending a cooking school is not of interest for some seniors, so we suggest that you put an apron over your clothing, attend a hands-on demonstration and create a real praline for your own enjoyment. Whether you are an elderly traveler who doesn’t want to leave home or a senior travel person traveling the world it is always a bonus when we learn something new. Although you probably are not looking for another career, there's nothing wrong with searching for a great senior travel deal, take an educational tour and learn the secrets of master chocolate-makers now that you know that Belgian chocolate is more than just an ordinary cocoa product. How can you go wrong?
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