Nothing goes hand-in-hand with Valentine’s Day better than chocolate and there is no better place to experience chocolate in all its deliciously decadent glory than a chocolate festival.
In the beautiful Hoosier Ballroom, the sights and smells of chocolate took center stage at the 9th annual Chocolate Festival on February 11 at the majestic French Lick Resort. My husband and I were excited to spend a few hours surrounded by chocolate and it was truly an experience and a great way to gear up for Valentine’s Day.
Nestled snugly in the forests of southern Indiana, a mere two hours away from Cincinnati, the French Lick Resort offers a unique experience with world-class chefs, friendly staff, amazing food and opulent ambiance one might expect in New York, Los Angeles, or London here in the heart of Midwest…but more about the resort later. We have chocolate to talk about.
The Chocolate Festival provided chocoholics like me from near or far with several different chocolate “bars” dedicated to everything that can possibly be drizzled, doused, dipped or drenched in chocolate.
There was a sweet & salty bar, a savory bar, a candy bar and a breakfast bar (that served crepes and waffles filled and/or covered with chocolate deliciousness).
The usual suspects one would expect to see were present like Chocolate-dipped strawberries and a towering chocolate fountain with several dipping options such as graham crackers, crispy rice treats, marshmallows, Oreos and pretzels.
But it wouldn’t be a chocolate festival if they kept to the usual. Also available were olives, pickles, cheese puffs, Doritos and bacon all dipped in chocolate.
We even had the opportunity to eat chocolate-dipped rose and orchid petals…and I have to say, they were pretty good. I preferred the orchid petals over the rose ones but they were still tasty. Who knew!
But what to drink when all this chocolate about? Why, milk of course! They had a milk bar that offered white milk, chocolate milk, milk and malt shakes and even chocolate soda (which was interesting but I’ll never try again). Also available was coffee, hot chocolate and a cash bar for those wanting adult beverages…all chocolate themed of course. They really did think of everything.
Once in the festival, we were able to stay as long as we liked (well…until it was over) and we made multiple trips to the various bars. My only regret is that we didn’t get there sooner. We arrived with only 1 hour left and that wasn’t nearly enough time.
During the festival, they had various chef demonstrations which were fun and entertaining to watch. My sister is a chef at the resort and she presented a demonstration of Cocoa Nib Salted Soft Caramels. (She’s the one who told me about the event…and now I’m telling you)
The chocolate festival is great for families. There were plenty of kids who loved dipping candy and sweet things in the fountain and filling up on tasty treats. We decided to leave the kids home for this little one-tank trip and it was a great day for us as a couple. A fun way to kick off our Valentine’s week!
Next year will be the 10th annual festival and it sounds like big things are already in the works so keep this in mind for your Valentine’s Day celebrations next year and in the years to come.
Wish I could go! Looks delicious!