Welcome to the wonderful world of chocolate heaven where you will find the “Food of the Gods”.

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Holdsworth Chocolates are scrumptiously different and here at Holdsworth you will have discovered the ultimate. Here in our factory in Bakewell, Derbyshire you will see our experienced chocolatiers at work. Your chocolates are created with great skill and artistry using only the best natural ingredients from around the world and from non-genetically modified sources. Our plain chocolate has a minimum cocoa solid of 60% and our milk and white chocolate are equally impressive.

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For thousands of years the cocoa bean has been held in high regard. Theobroma cacao literally means "food of the gods" and it is also the Latin name for the tree which bears the precious cocoa bean, valued, even worshipped more than 2000 years ago, by the Mayo in the Amazon and Orrinocco river basins where the high rain fall provided an ideal climate for the small tree. The Aztec civilisation was further North where climatic conditions did not favour cultivation of the tree but the cocoa bean was so important to them that they acquired it through trade and it was enjoyed as a drink, probably brewed, by the wealthy and featured highly in their many rituals. The Aztec Emperor, Montezuma, reputedly drank the concoction from a golden goblet fifty times a day! It remained a wealthy privilege even when it was brought to Europe by the Spanish.

Until the early nineteenth century chocolate was only enjoyed as a drink made from the cocoa liquor with the cocoa butter removed and a variety of flavourings added such as cinnamon.

Cocoa liquor itself is not particularly pleasant but when the “waste” cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, sugar or sugar and milk are added the end result is truly gorgeous. The processing of the beans from harvest to chocolate as we eat it is long and involved. The beans are first fermented for about six days and then dried for a further two weeks or so. The best chocolate flavour is produced when this is done naturally in the sun. The beans are then roasted, graded and ground. The mixing of the cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and sugar or sugar and milk takes place next to produce a wide range of flavours and texture. The final process is “conching”! The length of time given to the conching process will determine the final smoothness of the chocolate. A really good chocolate is conched for up to a week! Needless to say we at Holdsworth Chocolate use a very high quality of couverture to produce our wonderful varieties of chocolates.

Hand made chocolates are sumptuously different. Here in the factory in Bakewell our experienced chocolatiers work with great skill and artistry, using only the best ingredients from around the world and strictly from non genetically modified sources.

The cocoa bean has many beneficial qualities. It contains a substance called Phenylethylamine which provides a feeling of happy euphoria - hence it’s reputation as an aphrodisiac. Well we all know that Casanova consumed it before his amorous adventures. There is no doubt that chocolate is good for you!

If you want to ensure your loved one’s devotion you can’t do better than to give them chocolates.

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