If You Haven't Heard Of Chocolate Fountains You Are Missing Out

A chocolate fountain is as close as you can get in real life to the fantasy of Willie Wonka or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. These are sure to delight any true chocolate lover.

There are many different varieties of chocolate fountains available on the market ranging from small personal sized ones that are suitable for individuals or small parties as well as a diverse selection of tabletop types that are very inexpensive. With some of these you have to pre-melt the chocolate because all they do is keep the chocolate warm and flowing once it is melted, some of the better ones will do it all including melting the chocolate.

You need to be sure to read the description of the chocolate fountain you are considering so that it has the features you want. For example, if you want one that does the melting for you be sure that it states it on the box. If you are concerned about power cords being a tripping hazard there are also battery operated versions as well.

A battery powered model like the Giles Posner product is safe for even those of us with two left feet. These comes in jet black as well as a candy pink color and are great for outdoor festivities where a close electrical outlet may not be available.

Sephra makes fountains as large as 40 inches tall but they also make individual style models considered mini-fountains that are perfect for use at home. This model will also melt the chocolate for you like some of the higher end ones so you don't have top microwave your chocolate before putting it in the container.

To be sure that the chocolate flows smoothly over the unit you may need to add oil and this should be added to the chocolate that is used in the chocolate fountain. Some of the more popular home chocolate fountains are from Rival, Sephra, and Fundue Foods. What one should look for in a chocolate fondue fountain is quality in construction, quietness in operation, ease of assembly, cleaning should be easy and it should also have dishwasher safe parts.

If you are the type of person that gets into fun facts then you will definitely appreciate this one. There is a huge fountain in Las Vegas, actually the largest one in the world, and it is inside of the Bellagio. It stands over 27 feet tall but only about half of that is visible. This enormous gadget has over a ton of chocolate circulating in it at any time. Talk about a chocolate lover's fantasy, this has to be it!

This enormous fountain consists of 25 glass "shells" into which the chocolate pours from pipes in the ceiling. Those with an eye for art will find that the basins are in fact noticeably Chihuly-esque. To tell the truth, the ceiling sculpture in the lobby of the Bellagio was designed by noted glass artist Dale Chihuly.

Gregg Hall is an author living with his 18 year old son in Jensen Beach, Florida. Find more about chocolate as well as chocolate gift baskets at http://www.frenchchocolatedelivery.com

Yummy Chocolate Fountains

You will need chocolate fountains, as well as some supplies such as food to dip in the chocolate, utensils, and the yummiest chocolates - a good variety on hand (to order) would be good so you can accommodate your customer's requests. You can rent out your chocolate fountains for about $500 per event.

Occasions people might rent a chocolate fountain are many. Weddings would be a big seller, as well as holidays, birthday parties, catered dinner parties, etc.

You could start a business renting out chocolate fountains to those interested in using these in their functions. You will have to make some initial investments in this business, consisting of mainly a number of chocolate fountains. Together with this, it is necessary to have a good variety of chocolates at hand to use in your chocolate fountain. You could also cater to the requests of your customers by buying and using their choice of chocolate in the chocolate fountain if required also.

When hiring out your chocolate fountains, rent them at a reasonable rate, at about $500 per function. There is no specific function that has a priority for chocolate fountains. You expect orders for chocolate fountains during holidays, birthday parties, weddings, catered dinner parties, and a host of other occasions. When hiring out your chocolate fountain, it is necessary that you either go on your own to handle the chocolate fountain or send an attendant.

You or the attendant has to set up the fountain at the site of the function. Then you have to show the guests how to use the fountain, and at the same time make sure that everything works out fine in the function. You have to take along food for dipping in chocolate. This could be anything from bananas, biscuits, cakes, and anything that works out well with chocolates. You then have to skewer the food to display them with the fountain. With this, you can create an elegant and beautiful presentation for the fountain, and its dipping items.

Once you set up yourself with this business, you will have to invest in advertisements and marketing so that people will be aware of your business. This is a relatively new business, so not many people will be aware of it. You should create flyers to display in shopping malls and in community centers. It would be better for you if you could arrange for a demonstration in a shopping mall, where shoppers would get to know of such a facility existing. You can sell, 'chocolate dipping', in the shopping mall and people will sure love it. You just have to take along some bamboo sticks for skewing, food for skewering, and some small plates or napkins to prevent the chocolate from dripping on your customers' bodies!

Once your chocolate fountain becomes famous, you are sure to get many people waiting and vying for your fountain. People will be waiting to meet you in functions and shopping centers just to eat your delicious chocolate and relive childhood passions and dreams of chocolates!

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A Chocolate Fountain of Youth?

We humans are strange indeed. People spend so much energy in an attempt to look and feel younger, that they so often miss the fact that they are using so much precious time doing so. Could the answer to retaining youth be right under our very noses, could something as well known as chocolate be the answer?

Age is seen as the ultimate enemy of the modern man and woman. With the pressures to always be on top and keep climbing, capturing the energy and vitality of youth has a compulsion many cannot ignore. Through history a variety of notions to stop the effects of time have surfaced and allured so many. In the sixteenth century, the insane Countess Bathory and her ‘associates’ murdered over 600 young girls for blood baths, in their quest for immortality. Many of the less morbid antidotes to ageing taste nasty, smell funny or are simply unaffordable. Can it be that something as pleasurable and universally accessible as chocolate, could be a youth serum?

Preposterous you say? Perhaps not, the cocoa bean, the essence of chocolate, has a complex chemical makeup that we are still trying to understand. What we do know however, is that chocolate contains flavinoids - healthy chemicals (a sub-group of polyphenols), that are widely believed to possess several health benefits.

Flavinoid’s strongest health related property is as an antioxidant. Antioxidants combat free radicals which are naturally produced by your body and cause irreversible damage (oxidation) to cells. Free radicals can leave your body vulnerable to premature aging, cancer, cardiovascular disease, and degenerative diseases like arthritis and although modern science has increased our average life spans, environmental factors like cigarette smoke, exhaust fumes, radiation from UV exposure, and stress can increase free radicals. So finding a source of antioxidants to counteract this could well leave you looking and feeling younger.

To get the most out of this particular fountain of youth you should eat chocolate with as high a percentage of cocoa as possible, it is only these dark chocolates that have a significant level of flavinoids, in order to obtain the light and sweet taste in milk chocolate, many of them are processed out. So eating mass produced candy bars you find in your local supermarket which are very low cocoa content (and are in fact not really classified as chocolates), is not likely to do you any good, in fact the concentrated sugars and artificial flavorings are probably bad for your overall health if eaten regularly.

Chocolate a health product? Are you shaking your head? Well for all the skeptics out there you should look at it like this: a bit of sumptuous chocolate may not be the key to immortality, but it always makes you smile and that’s gotta keep you young.

I can be contacted by submitting a query at http://www.neuhaus-chocolates.com

What is a Chocolate Fountain?

A chocolate fountain is usually made of stainless steel and serves melted chocolate. A motor at the base heats the chocolate placed in the heating tray. The heated chocolate then goes up through a column and when it gets to the top, flows down over multiple tiers. This chocolate flows over each tray until it reaches the base.

Couverture chocolate, which contains at least 32 percent cocoa butter, works great in a chocolate fountain. You get this in light milk chocolate or dark chocolate. You can use other chocolate but must add vegetable oil, which hampers the taste and smoothness.

At one time chocolate fountains were commercial units, which cost thousands of dollars and used by professional party planners at catering events. You can still rent larger fountains from party stores and catering services that come with an attendant to made sure the fountain runs properly.

Home Chocolate Fountains

Now chocolate fountains are available for home use so people can host their own events. A home fountain is great for a party of around 20 or 25 people.

For someone thinking of purchasing a chocolate fountain for his or her home, there are a large number of budget friendly chocolate fountains on the market. Many of the very inexpensive models are not worth buying because of their cheap construction.

Purchasing a Chocolate Fountain

When purchasing a chocolate fountain for home use, look for the following:

• A good warranty is very important.

• It should be easy to clean and dishwasher safe.

• You want a machine that is easy to assemble.

• Make sure the construction quality is excellent.

• Nothing is worse than a loud machine so quiet operation is important.

• Auger pumping mechanism

To have the chocolate flow smoothly, you need to add oil. Many companies make chocolate for chocolate fountains that you do not add oil so you can set them up faster and more conveniently.

Most people are chocolate lovers. Just seeing rich chocolate, cascading down each layer on a chocolate fountain, makes our mouths water. There are many types of chocolate available to use. Some of these are:

• Milk chocolate - creamy and smooth

• Dark chocolate - some people call this bitter chocolate

• Unsweetened chocolate - no sweeteners added

Chocolate Facts

Less than 2 percent of fat in American diets come from chocolate. The main sources are fried foods, meat and full fat dairy products. Experts and research show that most headaches are not related to chocolate intake. Studies show that stress, hunger, irregular sleep patterns and hormone changes can cause headaches.

Learn more about Chocolate Fountains and the various information about this delicious food at: Chocolate Fountain Machine

Sheer Pleasure - A Chocolate Fountain

A chocolate fountain is a fun and entertaining way to provide a cascading waterfall of chocolate for your guests or family. The fountain serves as a decorative device for serving chocolate fondue. The right consistency needs to be achieved to reach the correct texture for the chocolate to fall down the fountain. The chocolate is poured into the fountain in the base, the fountain is turned on to provide the heat which is controlled by a thermostat, and the motor turns the rotating blades to start the flow of chocolate. A corkscrew-type piece, called an auger, turns slowly in a rhythmic-like pattern; this draws the chocolate up to the top of the chocolate fountain. The fountain usually comes apart for easy clean-up as the pieces can be washed in a dishwasher. In most cases, the parts of the chocolate fountain are made from stainless steel for durability and allow the heat to be retained. Most fountains are solid and weigh approximately 40-90 pounds when empty. A small fountain contains about 9 pounds of chocolate and will feed up to 100 people. A medium sized fountain holds 20 pounds of chocolate and is 30 inches and can feed over 100 people. A larger fountain can provide enough liquid chocolate for over 250 people for a reasonable amount of time.

The best chocolate to use in a chocolate fountain is a chocolate containing more cocoa butter than most regular eating chocolate. The chocolate usually contains 33-44% more cocoa butter than the chocolate you get in bars or chips. This type of chocolate is called Couverture, the French word meaning covering. Milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate, and dairy-free chocolate will all be good choices for use in the chocolate fountain. These chocolates work best when the product is first melted in a double boiler to achieve the deserved consistency, after which it can be placed into the chocolate fountain. The low-temperature heater will keep a regulated temperature of the chocolate to retain the flow of the wonderful covering. A chocolate that is too cold will not drop smoothly from tier to tier. A too-hot chocolate will become too thin and leave gaps in the waterfall effect.

Products that are best dipped into the chocolate fountain are marshmallows, pretzels, strawberries and other fruit such as bananas and grapes, cookies, and anything that complements the chocolate. The least desirable items would be something that crumbles or could add crumbles to the chocolate, that in turn could cause the fountain’s holes to become plugged, affecting the flow of chocolate. Using a long fork, skewer or stick can make it easier to enjoy the chocolate dipping pleasure.

Terry Roberts is a professional translator and linguist, with a wide range of interests. To read more about chocolate fountains - and about chocolate in general - please visit his website: Gorgeous Chocolate!