The Northland’s Very Own Chocolate Factory

UMD is making their own chocolate this holiday season as a fun way to learn science with students.

DULUTH, Minn.- The UMD chemical engineering department is a chocolate sensation, using science make chocolate this holiday season.

The idea started five years ago when the lab’s coordinator Lyndon Ramrattan brought back cocoa beans from Trinidad and suggested students learn the chemical processes it takes to get from bean to bar.

The lab makes everything from cocoa teas to flavored dark and milk chocolate molds. The cross–over between chocolate making and its chemical processes has been integrated into every class in the program’s curriculum for the year.

“Chocolate making is very similar to a lot of these things. It’s a food product, it’s relatively harmless, everybody likes it, and when we’re done with the experiment or the teaching part of it, there’s no hazardous chemicals to get rid of,” Ramrattan said.

The chocolate is not for sale to the public as of now.

The lab is in the process of setting up a study abroad for students to visit Trinidad and harvest their own cocoa beans to make chocolate with, hoping to set sail in January of 2020.