Every year in december there is a regional event that draws many people into the city centre of Tübingen, my university town: CHOCOLART - The international chocolate festival in Tübingen
Do you loooooooove chocolate?
Then join me as I am giving you an exclusive tour through this yummy chocolate fair
right after the jump!
~ Mary ~
ChocolART - Germany's largest chocolate festival
Every year around the beginning of december about 100 international chocolatiers from Africa, America and Europe come to Tübingen to present their chocolate delicacies to the thousands of visitors that come to the festival to satisfy their craving for extraordinarily yummy and unique chocolate.
Not even the freezing below zero temperatures hold visitors back from stopping by!
But now enough with the words,
let's dig right into the sweet world of chocolate!
What is your favourite candy? Whatever it is, I bet you can't say "No" to some delicious high-quality chocolate! ;)
Live Chocolate Production - protected by a transparent curtain these chocolatiers were in the process of making chocolate marshmallows. Small chocolate-covered cream cakes that make everyone crave for more!
This fair is not only about the common chocolate you know from grocery stores and sweet shops. ChocolART is actually based on the concept to show chocolate as art (as you can read in its titel). Chocolatiers from all over the world exhibit their art pieces - fully made of eatable ingredients with a main focus on chocolate!
Of course even the chocolate bars are extraordinary. Not only are they huuuuge, they also have beautiful decorations on and very exotic flavour combinations!
The Prices
You might have already guessed it, but yes, all of the items sold at the fair are relatively expensive, compared to your everyday chocolate. But that's understandable, considering the fact that these are all very high-quality chocolates from international high ranked chocolatiers.
Don't you wish you had a chocolate fountain like this one in your own home? :D
Obviously there is a fountain for each brown, dark and white chocolate! Which is your favourite?
There is nothing that goes better with a chocolate fountain than fruit spits! Be it bananas, strawberries, grapes or ananas - I personally like all of them covered in a yummy layer of chocolate - mmmmmhhhhhhhh ;P
Here we have a very special delicacy: Schneebälle (snowballs). They look like actual snowballs, right? These are sweet dough balls partly covered in chocolate with different stuffings. Basically you can see them as one huge ball-shaped chocolate cooky! :D
And here is something for the sophisticated gourmets among you. These little, pretty pralines are all filled with different kinds of alcohol: wine, vodka, champagne... I wonder if you can actually get drunk with these, hahaha.
Some unique delicacies
At this point, I think that I should tell you guys about 2 very exotic chocolate delicacies at the fair.
For everyone who wants to challenge extraordinary flavours and never-before-eaten chocolate combinations!
- Sausage in chocolate&chili sauce -
- Chocolate beer -
Unexpectedly, for me at least, these 2 specialities are very popular.
However I just couldn't get myself to trying them. No matter how you see it, I prefer the more traditional chocolate combinations.
Still, I heard good reviews about them. So if you feel adventurous enough - give it a try! :)
And here we have one of my favourite items at this festival: Pumps made out of chocolate!
They're two things a girl loves combined into one, shoes and candy - what else do you want? :D
Unfortunately they didn't carry my size so...hahaha
Don't you think that they look very wearable? Although they do look even more eatable :)
Choco lollipops, that not only kids enjoy!
Do you need a new smartphone? - These are a very yummy deal! ;)
The chocolatiers' creativity really is limitless. Chocolate tools, chocolate hardware, chocolate crockery, chocolate animals etc. etc. etc.
Isn't it amazing that all of this is made out of chocolate?
Now on to the very amazing chocolate masterpieces. Would you wear something like this? A marzipan corset painted with chocolate.
These are the entries for a newbie pastry chef contest. It looks as if the contest's topic was to create a Maya-inspired monument out of chocolates.
I couldn't take my eyes of these masterpieces. It really amazes me how creative you can get with chocolate.
Finally, here is what I treated myself to at the end of my fair tour.
Goufrais - mini ring cake-shaped chocolate confectionaries.
So yuuuuummmmmyyy! ;)
Everyone knows brownies - but have you heard of blondies? They're white chocolate "brownies" and taste just as good as their brown twins ;)
At the end here is a very beautiful night view on the projections casted on the houses that surround the market place. It seems like all those houses turned into gingerbread huts! ;)
Critique
You hear locals and people who have visited the fair over the past few years say,
that the festival has become less attractive. They say that more chocolatiers used to participate in the fair. Also this year the opportunity to try out samples of the treats is not really given anymore. Very few stalls actually provide their visitors with free bits of their products. That's definitely saaaaaaaaaaaad to hear!
For me this was the 2nd time visiting the festival and despite all of the missing treats,
I'd say that a visit to the chocolate festival with your friends and family is still a really sweet experience.
If you happen to get the opportunity to stop by Tübingen in the first half of december,
then definitely come visit the ChocolART festival for some yummy chocolate treats! ;)
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