Chocolate Museum of Barcelona
C/Comerç, 36
08003 Barcelona
Tel. 93.268.78.78
This is the 4th episode of my Spanish telenovela titled Gluten-Free Croissants: Dream The Impossible Gluten-Free Dream.
Did you know that Barcelona has a chocolate museum?!
The Spanish name for the museum is El Museu de la Xocolata de Barcelona. (I know, everything sounds more exotic in Catalan. :))
Remember how I told you that my friend Joan Turull’s dad owns the chocolate museum? After we enjoyed our lunch at Cal Pep, we walked over to the museum for a tour. I wanted to tell you about it awhile ago, because it was beyond a 99% cacao experience, but there really wasn’t anything officially gluten-free for me to steer you towards.
But now that has changed!
According to the Proceli website, there is something gluten-free that you can buy there now! It doesn’t say exactly what it is…but my guess is it might be a tasty Proceli product.
Who will be the first person to solve this long distance mystery for us?
Please tell us in the comments and I’ll make you a lifetime member of the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Mystery Club.
(Ok, I’m making that club name up, but I would have gotten away with it if it wasn’t for those meddling kids!!! Grrr.)
Wanna take a quick photo tour of the museum?….
Here’s a view from the window of the chocolate museum looking down into part of the Barcelona’s Provincial Guild of Pastry & Confectionary School. The two entities are linked together. As you can see, it was an unusually wet day that included hail. This Oregon grown girl didn’t initially get why the Spaniards were all looking out the window in disbelief.
chocolate ticket
Isn’t it cute that the ticket to the museum is a chocolate bar! I gave mine away as a souvenir gift to a friend.
chocolate sagrada familia
Who broke off the top of a spire on the chocolate Sagrada Familia?!
The Pope!!! Seriously! It was a gift for him and he left his mark and gave it to the museum. I wonder if he ate the spire? Hmm…
chocolate la pieta
Who knew chocolate could be so serious?
Chocolate Bambi & Friends
Ah…something a bit more lighthearted. Basically, anything can be made into a chocolate replica.
If you click on the images below, you can read more about the history behind the tradition of making chocolate figures.
Chocolate Tradition
One of my favorite things in Barcelona is the beautiful street lights that double as benches. Here is the chocolate version!
Chocolate Barcelona Bench
Barcelona Chocolate Museum Stairway
Barcelona Chocolate Museum Side Door
The Chocolate Museum Team heh heh
I love this picture! It’s actually just me posing with the director of the museum (Olivier Fernandez) on the left, and the director of the patisserie school (Olivier Fernandez) and Joan Turull the creator of Proceli products on the right. It turns out that Olivier guest teaches at the CIA in Hyde Park, NY on occasion. Small world!
I thought this preserved cacao pod in Olivier’s office was cool!
After touring the museum I was given a behind the scenes tour of the patisserie school. Students come from all over the world to attend this well respected school. As you will see, they have a lot of fun creating just about anything they can think of. And yes, these are all chocolate and candy.
Here are some chocolates that Joan hand picked for me. Aren’t they gorgeous?! The one on the far right had real gold on it! Yeah, I’m pretty much ruined now when it comes to boring American chocolate. 😉
***
Here are the other episodes of my Spanish telenovela:
Gluten-Free Croissants: Dream The Impossible Dream
Barcelona Pictures: Condes de Barcelona Hotel
And here is more helpful information on dining gluten-free in Barcelona:
Gluten-Free Spain Guide: Barcelona
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Must be chocolate croissants– pain au chocolat. (?????)
Looks like they’ve added new exhibits since my visit in 2004, but the classics are still there too. Wish I could help out on your quest. Can’t wait for the answer!
I am presently in Barcelona enjoying my round
the world trip.
I visited the chocolate museum and asked about
The gluten free offerings, unfortunately they only
had a football boot made from chocolate and
chocolate lollypops.
I did visit at the end of the day so they may have
sold out of other options.
Oh man! You are making crave chocolate and I have nada in the house. We have a great chocolatier in our neighbourhood (Toronto, Canada) that makes gluten-free, hand made chocolate with a wonderful variety.
Hmmm…., maybe I feel a walk coming on….
Peguinos de Madagascar?
Aleka…not sure what you are saying, but I think it relates to Proceli doing some sort of promo with the movie Madagascar? Here is the link to their FB page talking about it. https://www.facebook.com/proceli
Its interesting to know that there is an existing chocolate museum in Spain. Popular figures fashioned from chocolate makes the museum a must for visitation when going for Barcelona. Hope there is a gluten free chocolate in the city like those from
gluten free grocery Edmonton
Viva el museo de Barcelona!
I love this museum, you never really think about the rich history a product that we take for granted has, or what it goes through to reach the shelves…
For those interested, you can learn more about the museum here:
Chocolate Museum Barcelona