How are Easter eggs made?

Easter eggs are special eggs that are often given to celebrate the Christian holiday of Easter. Sometimes they are made out of chocolate. Have you ever eaten an Easter egg? Watch this video to find out how they are made.

Instructions

Do the preparation task first. Then watch the video and do the exercises. Remember you can read the transcript at any time.

Preparation

Transcript

Presenter: Over the Easter period Irish people will tuck into millions of these, but have you ever wondered how an Easter egg is made? Let's find out …
Natasha, thanks a million for having us.

Natasha: You're more than welcome. Thank you very much for coming.

Presenter: And can you tell us a little bit about the factory?

Natasha: Sure, the Chocolate Warehouse is part of Caffrey's. We opened in 1948. My grandfather opened up Caffrey's. Umm, it's now a third generation-run family business and the Chocolate Warehouse was opened eleven years ago.

Presenter: And is Easter a particularly busy time of the year?

Natasha: It's our busiest time of the year – it's Christmas, New Year, everything all rolled into one.

Presenter: So, where does chocolate come from?

Natasha: It comes from a tree called the cocoa tree, and the very first thing that starts to grow on a cocoa tree is a very beautiful pod, called the cocoa pod. Now, inside these pods are little brown beans called cocoa beans, and then we heat these, we crush them down, and we make them into different types of chocolate, for example, milk, dark and white chocolate. There's a different process for each. Then we pour them into different types of moulds. We have rabbit moulds, Easter egg moulds, handmade chocolate moulds. There's many different types of moulds, and this is how we make Easter eggs and different types of chocolate bunnies. So, you put the mould into the chocolate, to fill it. You put the lid back over. Then we put on something called a spinning machine, where the mould spins around, and this is where you make hollow or moulded products. We're open till five o'clock on Saturday for the Easter bunny, and then from the 23rd of April right through the whole summer we have chocolate workshops, great for birthday parties or school tours. You can just come up for two hours to make your own chocolates and it's great fun.

Presenter: Well, thanks very much for having us.

Natasha: Happy Easter! Thanks.