A TRIP TO THE CHOCOLATE SHOP By: Deborah Kozdras Photos taken by Deborah at Debbie’s Chocolate Delight Facts About Chocolate Making Provided by Tish and Marianne: Chocolate Makers at the Shop All Other Images From Microsoft Free Use.

One day I woke up and all I could think about was chocolate! And more chocolate. “Mom, I have a scarcity problem!” I said. “Scarcity?” Mom asked. “Where did you learn that word?” “In school. Chocolate is a scarce resource in our house because we don’t have any and I want some!”

“You know how much I love when you use the words you learn at school.” My mom said. “That deserves a quarter in your piggy bank. “What else did she teach you?” My mom asked. “She taught us that when something is scarce, we have to make choices.” Then I grinned. “My choice is that you need to give me enough money to buy some chocolate!”

“Money doesn’t grow on trees.” My mom said. “How can I make more money?” I asked. “Help me with the chores and I’ll give you a dollar a day.” After ten days I had saved enough money for a trip to the chocolate shop! I also learned many more money words at school and planned to use them at the shop. “I’m going to be a consumer because I will buy chocolate.” I said.

When we entered the shop, I saw chocolate and more chocolate! “You sure sell a lot of goods in your store.” I said to Ms. Tish and Ms. Marianne, the owners. “We aren’t just sellers. We are also producers.” said Ms. Marianne. “Are you producing any chocolate today?” I asked.

It was my lucky day! Ms. Tish showed me a fancy chocolate. “I’m making these now. We have an order for a customer and need to supply them with 100.” “I know!” I said. “You need to supply the chocolates because you have a demand from customers.” I grinned at my mom, hoping she was keeping score of my use of economics words.

“What resources do you need to make chocolates?” I asked Ms. Marianne said, “Watch Tish and you will find out! She will be making more right now.” She also let us taste the chocolate discs they used in their store. There were three flavors: dark, milk, and white chocolate. Then she showed us the melting pots where they melted the chocolate. Chocolate Discs (Intermediate Goods)Melting Pots (Capital Resources)

They showed me how they used both white and colored chocolate. “How do you get the fancy designs on the chocolates?” I asked. “Just watch.” said Ms. Tish. She took some of the melted chocolate and poured it into molds. Ms. Marianne showed us their room full of different shaped molds. It looked like they had at least a million! Well, maybe not that many, but at least thousands. “Over 4000.” She said.

After they poured the chocolate into the molds, they put the molds into a freezer. They waited 15 minutes. Then they took out the hardened chocolates and popped them carefully out of the molds. “Check out how fancy they look!” I said.

“You think that’s fancy? Just wait until you see what I do next.” Ms. Tish said. Then she took out some other tools and resources. First she showed us the edible gold dust and the pink brush she uses to apply the dust. Second she showed us how she used a tissue to clean off the extra.

I saw some chocolates with squiggles and asked, “How do squiggles get on top of chocolates?” Ms. Tish told me that they used squeeze bottles or drizzled chocolate on some of their boxed chocolates. “Other places use different tools.” she said. “Some factories use machines. But our chocolates are hand-made.”

“So what did you learn?” my mom asked as we paid. “I learned how they get those squiggles on the chocolate. I also learned about the tools the producers used. And about supply and demand.” Then I looked at the two dimes and a penny I received as change. “And I learned that money doesn’t grow on trees.” “No it doesn’t.” My mom said. “But chocolate does!” What????