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Pembertons Chocolate Farm

Click images to enlarge Pembertons Chocolate Farm The Cocoa Bean Café Chocolate Welsh Love Spoons "Humbug Jones" sweet and fudge shop A tattered old cookbook - the beginning of a chocolate farm Chocolate fountains

Area Guides: Llanboidy Attractions: Chocolate Activities: Activities for Children County: Carmarthenshire Region: South West Wales Telephone - please mention Let's Stay South West Wales: 01994 448800 Email: Click here to email the chocolate farm! Holiday Accommodation: Click HERE for details of holiday accommodation for Carmarthenshire Details: Pembertons Chocolate Farm Welcome to the Welsh Chocolate Farm, Croeso I'r Fferm Siocled Cymraeg Join us at the chocolate farm where you can smell, taste, drink, see, touch, listen to and absorb the full flavours of fine chocolate at our award winning chocolate workshops. There's 3000 years of history in chocolate. On a Factory Tour we show you how chocolates are made. Young and old are welcome to have a go. You can see all the details of our famous visitor attraction at the Welsh Chocolate Farm. To help you plan your day out at Pemberton's you can also receive our visitor leaflet and even order our great products online The Chocolate Café, Chocolate Shops and Chocolate Village Tour are open from FACTORY OPEN FOR VISITORS - 2ND APRIL TO 3RD NOVEMBER 2007 MONDAY TO SATURDAY 10AM TILL 5PM SORRY - CLOSED ON SUNDAYS ALSO CLOSED SATURDAY 6TH AND 20TH OCTOBER ADMISSION TO SITE IS FREE - PARKING FREE FACTORY TOURS - VALUE ATTRACTION £3.45 ADULTS £2.95 CHILDREN (DISCOUNTS FOR BOOKED COACH PARTIES) THE POPULAR FACTORY TOURS RUN FROM 11AM THROUGHOUT THE DAY - BUT CAN FILL UP, SO ARRIVE EARLY. Chocolate Village Tour Come and join us on a tour of Pemberton's Welsh Chocolate Village Llansiocled is our model village where you can stroll the narrow streets and watch chocolate craft in action. Tours of the chocolate village include a short chocolate demonstration, an audio tour around the chocolate village and a chance to make your own chocolate and of course taste your own handiwork. The village tour is suitable for wheelchairs. Please make yourself known when booking on the tour so ramps can be put where needed. Opening hours Monday to Saturday 10am until 5pm with limited facilities out of peak season. There are regular conducted factory tours and demonstrations. More frequent in peak season and school holidays. Bookings are on a first come first served basis. Cocoa Bean Café at the Chocolate Farm The Cocoa Bean Café where you will find light refreshment. Including our fabulous hot chocolate made with real grated chocolate. We even have orange and strawberry flavoured hot chocolate, all served with lashings of cream marshmallows, what a treat! We also provide a range of cakes, gateaux, biscuits and sandwiches. You can enjoy a break at Pemberton's Welsh Chocolate Farm either inside or outside. Sit by the goldfish pond and enjoy the sun, some of the outside area is also covered, or enjoy the comfort of the Cocoa Café. The Chocolate Cinema at Pembertons In the Chocolate Cinema there's a film which traces the history of cocoa from the days when South American Indians used beans as currency, up to the present day. This is the educational bit where you can learn how cocoa became the chocolate that we know today. You can also see how the pods are harvested and the beans are dried and fermented before being processed into the world's favourite food - Chocolate. It's a 25 minute journey back into the history of this fascinating plant which was first used for flavouring savoury foods and only fairly recently sweetened to make confectionery. The Story of Chocolate The beans are fermented for about a week, dried in the sun and then shipped to the chocolate maker. The chocolate maker starts by roasting the beans to bring out the flavour. Different beans from different places have different qualities and flavours, so they are often sorted and blended to produce a distinctive mix. Next, the roasted beans are winnowed. Winnowing removes the meat (also known as the nib) of the cocoa bean from its shell. Seeds are fermented and dried before they are roasted. Once roasted, winnowed, and blended, the nibs are ground, and the ground nibs form a viscous liquid called chocolate liquor (the word liquor has nothing to do with alcohol -- that's just what it's called). All seeds contain some amount of fat, and cocoa beans are no different. However, cocoa beans are half fat, which is why the ground nibs form a liquid. If you have ever ground up peanuts to make real peanut butter, that is similar -- real peanut butter is a thick liquid. The difference between peanut oil and cocoa oil is that peanut oil is liquid at room temperature while cocoa oil is a solid up to about 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius). Chocolate liquor is pure, unsweetened chocolate. Eaten in this state, it's pretty nasty because it is bitter, but it's possible to acquire a taste for it. You can do two different things with chocolate liquor. You can pour it into a mold and let it cool and solidify. This is unsweetened chocolate. Or you can press it in a hydraulic press to squeeze out the fat. When you do that, what you are left with is a dry cake of the ground cocoa bean solids and cocoa butter (useful in everything from tanning products to white chocolate). If you grind up the cake, you have cocoa powder. You can buy both unsweetened chocolate (baking chocolate) and pure cocoa powder at the grocery store. What you are buying is ground cocoa beans, either with or without the cocoa butter. Making Chocolate So far, we've taken the seeds of a tree, roasted them and ground them up. Now the process of making the chocolate we eat can begin, and it takes a lot of talent, fortunately Pemberton's have all the experience needed to produce the finest chocolate. Discs of dark chocolate can be used for baking or can be eaten just as they are. There are three basic things that must be done by the chocolate maker to make a chocolate bar: Adding Ingredients - The chocolate that we eat contains sugar, other flavours (like vanilla) and often milk (in milk chocolate). The chocolate maker adds these ingredients according to his or her secret recipe. Conching - A special machine is used to massage the chocolate in order to blend the ingredients together and smooth it out. Conching can take anywhere from two to six days. Tempering - Tempering is a carefully controlled heating process, tempering is "a process where the chocolate is slowly heated, then slowly cooled, allowing the cocoa butter molecules to solidify in an orderly fashion." Without tempering, the chocolate does not harden properly or the cocoa butter separates out (as cream separates from milk). These three steps, along with the blend of cocoa beans chosen at the start and the way they are roasted, are the art of chocolate making. The steps control the quality, taste and texture of the chocolate produced, and are often closely guarded secrets! Types of Chocolate Baking Chocolate - Pure cocoa liquor with nothing added. Cocoa Powder - Cocoa bean solids; cocoa liquor pressed to remove the cocoa butter. Semisweet Chocolate - Pure cocoa liquor with extra cocoa butter and some sugar. Milk Chocolate Pure cocoa liquor with extra cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids; more milk than chocolate liquor. White Chocolate Cocoa butter with sugar and milk; no cocoa bean solids. Pemberton's Chocolate History A tattered old cookbook, tied with string and stuffed with old and well-tried confectionery recipes, was the inspiration for Pemberton’s Victorian Chocolates. The book belonged to the Pemberton family and the recipes went back to Alice Pemberton and her old sweet kitchen. Alice's grandson, Alan Jones, and his wife Elizabeth were inspired by the Victorian wisdom and started their chocolate factory in Wales. Over the years the recipes have been modified, and Elizabeth went to Belgium to hone her skills with some of Europe’s top chocolatiers. The business is now moving to the next generations with both daughters Emily and Jessica taking active roles within the family business. "I suppose the idea of making chocolates on an old hill farm – miles from the nearest town – seems a bit silly. All I can say is that it works" says Alan Jones. The Welsh Chocolate farm has earned a solid reputation for exceptional chocolates, as the string of top awards testifies. The years have seen the farm buildings lovingly restored to chocolate workshops and each year thousands of visitors turn up for a factory visit and to buy some of the 200 odd products turned out with care by the dedicated team at Pembertons. Chocolate lovers from all Britain and the rest of the world clamour for Pemberton’s chocolates because they’re excellent value. Everybody claims they use only the best ingredients….Pemberton’s actually do! The Jones family describe their chocolates as "at the top of the 'non-snob' market". "We try to make chocolates that people actually enjoy. We hear so much about chocolate with 70 or 80 percent cocoa solids. That doesn’t mean its good. The unsung magic ingredient of chocolate is cocoa butter which melts on the tongue at one degree below body heat and which, when sweetened with subtlety and flavoured with skill, makes a most memorable eating experience" says Alan Jones. When it comes to chocolate, it's hard work keeping up with the Joneses. Welsh Chocolate Shop Our shop is bursting with our multi award winning chocolates which are made on the premises, with something for every one. From bars to luxurious boxes and caskets to loose chocolates. All items are perfect for take home gifts or simply spoiling the family. "Humbug Jones" Sweet and Fudge Shop. Jams, pickles, preserves, and chutneys. Large selection of Gold award winning fudge and old fashioned boiled sweets all made on the farm. In "Humbug Jones" working sweet museum, we make our gold award winning fudges and traditional boiled sweets in those old style flavours. All the equipment and copper boiling pans have been collected over the years to ensure a genuine flavour of nostalgia. Chocolate Fountain We have a room dedicated to the chocolate fountains where you can buy marshmallow kebabs, donuts or fresh fruit and fudge all covered in lashings of warm milk or white chocolate... heavenly! Wedding Favours And Functions Pemberton's Victorian Chocolates supply a range of Wedding favours function Chocolates to add the finishing touch to your special event. Our products are ideal if you are looking for a unique Welsh favour or simply a quality Chocolate gift. We have a large selection of small gifts and listed below is a selection of the popular choices. Any orders over £100 will also receive a 10% discount. Pemberton's Chocolate Lovespoons Available in Milk or White Chocolate with contrasting hand painted detail. These can be ribboned in your choice of colours. £1.50 plain or £1.60 with ribbons. Lovespoons are also available in a larger 95g size presented in a cream box with gold details £4.35. "Just A Little Something" These are individually boxed Chocolate Bars available in Milk, White and Dark. They are presented in a stylish cream box with gold detail. £1.60. Boxes of Four Chocolates These are presented in a white box with Welsh motifs, there is the option of adding ribbons of your choice to tie in with your colour theme. The individual chocolates can also be chosen from our extensive range which includes welsh moulds, creams, pralines and truffles. £2.95. Boxes of Two Chocolates These are available in cream, gold, silver or white with the option of adding ribbons of your choice. The individual chocolates inside can be chosen from our range with popular choices including pink champagne truffles, broken hearts and welsh moulds. £1.95. Loose Chocolates We have an extensive range of loose Chocolates which are ideal to finish off any meal. These are available to buy per kilo as a mixed box or individually. The range includes award winning truffles, creams, pralines and welsh moulds. For further information on our range please contact us. £29.50 per kilo. Corporate Gifts Pemberton's can supply a large range of products to suit any client, from small bars to larger Caskets of Chocolates and Seasonally matched gifts from Ornate Christmas themed gifts or Hand Crafted Easter eggs. All of which can be colour matched to a Corporation's chosen colours and supplied at a competitive price. List Of Chocolates Available: The Welsh designs are the most popular and they include; Vanilla Praline with a Celtic design, these come in milk, white and dark Coffee Praline with Welsh Dragon design in white and dark Orange Praline with Daffodil design in milk, white or dark Welsh hat shaped Praline in milk or dark Almond Praline with Welsh Feathers design We also have a range of truffles including: Carmarthenshire Honey and Amaretto Penderyn Welsh Whiskey Brandy Pink Champagne Orange and Cointreau Merlyns Welsh Liqueur in white or dark Chilli Lime and Tequila Tiramisu Rum and Coconut Then there is a large range of petit fours including; Cherry Brandy, Praline Hearts in white and dark, Strawberry and White Port, Malibu and Coconut, Advocaat and Vanilla, Rum and Ginger Barrel, Blackcurrant and Brandy, Peach and Brandy, Raspberry and Amaretto, Orange and Curacao, Mandarin and Brandy. Group Bookings Group bookings are welcomed at Pemberton's from the 2nd of April onwards. However unfortunately we cannot take any bookings during the six weeks of school summer holidays or any bank holidays. Bookings over twenty people can receive discounted prices and we also do a concessions price and special price for careers (please phone for details). A booked tour out of season often results in an exclusive tour for your group (depending on size) so you can enjoy the tour and the site at your leisure. There is a café that serves sandwiches, drinks and cakes (if large groups require lunch or snacks please notify us on booking), there is also outside seating area that can be utilised out of season. The tour suits all ages and we have received positive feedback from schools, youth groups, women's institutes, colleges and many more. For any information or to book a tour don't hesitate to contact us! The Welsh Chocolate Farm Llanboidy Carmarthenshire Wales SA34 0EX Telephone: 01994 448800 (id: '58') This listing has been viewed 199 times Another South West Wales Tourist Guide listing created by Let's Stay South West Wales