The Factory Store

The Blommer Factory is the largest chocolate manufacturing plant in North America. It is in downtown Chicago where it leaves a mix of sugar and coco in the air. They have a tiny factory store with more variety of candy and chocolate than I have ever seen and LOTS of free samples. And not tiny tastes of one candy, but bowls full of about everything in the store. The price for free samples seems to be high prices (deadpan). The chocolate isn't cheap. While there are ruffles potato chips dipped in chocolate available, the dark chocolate not particularly delicious because of all the sugar and milk included. Well I guess they are trying to save us from ourselves and diabetes.

Chicago seems to be all about the chocolate. There are odd chocolate bars and cafes all over the city. They are fancier than regular coffee houses, seem rather gilded and somehow reminiscent of the 1920's. Rebecca and I worked in one with pitiful wages, in essence 3 truffles per hour. The BBC might consider it blood wages.