UMD students learn by making fair trade chocolates

UMD students made 55 pound of chocolate for their annual Valentine’s Day sale.

Every year the campus’ Chocolate Club makes and sells handmade, fair trade creations- from chocolates to cocoa tea, and hot cocoa mix.

The beans come from the university’s study abroad program in Trinidad. And as delicious as the event is, it’s really all about science.

Lyndon Ramrattan, the Lab Services Coordinator and Chief Chocolate Maker, tells us that making chocolate isn’t easy, “At the end of the day, it’s a learning process. Every batch of chocolate is different. When it comes from the lab, students all have a different angle they put on the recipe.”

Students learn chemical engineering concepts through the chocolate process.