Fact Friday: A Parrot & A Donkey (forgot to post last week!)

Did you know when Joseph Rowntree toured his brother’s confectionery factory at Tanner’s Moat, York, he found both a parrot and a donkey roaming the grounds?

By the 1860’s, Joseph could see that Henry’s attempts to run the family firm’s sweet factory had begun to run aground, and so he agreed to step in and help manage production. As Quakers it was imperative to business that they should not fall into debt or risk being ostracized from the religious community.

However, much to his surprise he found a parrot in the work room – which did nothing but squawk and distract the workers – and a donkey that refused to do any work! Instead it would stand next to the hot steam pipes around the buildings in order to stay warm.

Partners in crime…

Joseph implemented a variety of changes at the factory to enable better production and the manufacturer of better products, including their famous fruit pastilles.

Eventually the donkey was replaced by a handcart…but who knows what became of the chatty parrot?

Wrapper Wednesday: Chocolate Kiwifruit

Today’s Wrapper Wednesday features a box of dark chocolate coated kiwifruit chunks, by small-scale manufacturer Waikato Valley Chocolates, New Zealand.

‘New Zealand’s own little chocolate factory’ has been operating now for around a quarter of a century and are specialists in producing chocolate coated fruit, nuts and other goodies. Since the name ‘kiwi’ is synonymous with ‘New Zealand’, this was one of the first confections my aunt and uncle sent back to me when they emigrated there.

Now here’s an interesting fact to see you through to Fact Friday! New Zealanders are actually called ‘kiwis’ in reference to their iconic and truly unique bird of residence – the small flightless kiwi. There are five known species of the plucky nocturnal avian on the islands and they became a mascot-like figure to the country, and then its people, around the turn of the 20th century.

It wasn’t until 1959 that the ‘Chinese gooseberry’ was later renamed to ‘kiwifruit’ by US importers, so called because of the fruit’s resemblance to the fuzzy brown feathers adorned by some of the kiwi (bird) species!

I remember these candies being rather tasty – little chewy, fresh and tangy nuggets of kiwifruit covered in dark chocolate – rather reminiscent of chocolate raisins but with a ‘kiwi’ twist!

Fact Friday: The Marquis de Sade

Did you know that the infamous Marquis de Sade, Donatien Alphonse François, loved chocolate so much, that he demanded that it be brought to him while serving time in prison for his explicit exploits?

Marquis de Sade 1740-1814

In May 1779, the French writer, philosopher , aristocrat and sexual deviant, wrote to his wife, Renée-Pelagie de Montreuil, that the rations she had previously sent to him were desperately lacking in chocolate; here he begins to list his frustrations, starting with the fact that…

“…the sponge cake is not at all what I asked for. 1st, I wanted it iced all over…2nd I wanted to have chocolate inside as black as the Devil’s arse is from smoke, and there isn’t even the least trace of chocolate. I beg you to have it sent to me at the first opportunity….”

As black as the Devil’s arse is from smoke – that’s how I’m going to refer to all dark chocolate from now on!

Is this demon’s arse chocolatey enough?

Sade was well known for his violent and ‘sadistic’ sexual practices, numerous affairs, violent temper and blasphemous attitude – it’s where we get the term ‘sadism’ today. He spent the last thirteen years of his life in an insane asylum…I wonder if he ever received the chocolate cake he wanted?