On the Chocolate Trail

Lesson Plan II- Shopping for the Best Chocolate


Lesson Plan II: accompanies Chapter 10: “Shopping for the Best Chocolate: Values and Ethics” (PDF download available)

For Grades 5 and above. May be used with Lesson III over two sessions. Please feel free to adapt and modify to suit your needs.

This lesson accompanies Chapter 10 “Shopping for the Best Chocolate.” The material may be used to supplement units about Jewish values, ethics, kashrut (Jewish dietary laws), Jewish food, Passover or Chanukah. Further information about kosher chocolate may be found at What Makes This Chocolate Different From All Other Chocolate?

Objectives for the students:

By the end of the lesson my students will be able to:

Explain the basic issues of kashrut (Jewish dietary laws) and chocolate

Identify new ethical kashrut approaches

State some of the challenges of identifying the best chocolate from the viewpoint of Jewish values and recognize some of the Hebrew terms

Define terms: hechsher, kosher, kashrut, pareve, Ashkenazi, Sephardi

Select chocolate for next week’s chocolate making lesson based upon Jewish values

Set Induction: (approximately 5-10 minutes)

Today we will choose a chocolate, for use in next week’s chocolate making to donate to local nursing home or food pantry.

1. Pose the question: (slide/board) Which chocolate is the best? What makes for a good chocolate? What about from a Jewish values point of view? Record a brief list of the responses.

2. And/or, pose this question: (slide/board) Our High Holy Day liturgy cautions about this sin: al cheit shechatanu l’fanecha b’maachal uv’mishteh “על חטא שחטאנוּ לפניך בּמאכל ובמשׁתה” (for the sin we have committed before you through food and drink). How might we have committed this sin through our chocolate eating?

3. And/or: Show selection of wrappers of various bars (a fair trade, an organic, a green, a farmer agreement, Hershey, a Kosher, and so on). Possibly pre-assign students to bring wrappers with or without chocolate of their favorite bar. What do we learn about chocolate quality from these wrappers?

Planned activities to make the lesson work:

1. Note new terms (approximately 15 minutes): hechsher, kosher, kashrut, pareve, Ashkenazi, Sephardi (see Glossary, p. 223)

2. Teach about kashrut in chocolate (approximately 15 minutes) Look at packaging, see the words in Hebrew and English, find the hechsher and/or other certifications.

Hechsher—certification systems of kashrut

Rabbinical supervision—of the processing and sometimes the growing

Dairy, pareve—almost all chocolate is certified dairy; the pareve certification is rare even for chocolate without any dairy in it. Cocoa butter is not dairy; it is a by-product of the cocoa bean processing when the fat is separated out of the bean.

Other certifications –Fair Trade, Rainforest Certification, Organic

Review Chart of Jewish Values and discuss nuances and challenges

Create closure:

Everyone votes:

1. Use the Jewish values list to decide which is the best chocolate.

2. Based on this discussion about kosher chocolate and ethical concerns related to chocolate, as well as issues related to Kosher l’Pesach chocolate, which type of chocolate should we use? Which certifications should we be looking for when we shop for chocolate?

3. Which type of chocolate should we use in our chocolate making project next session?

Materials and Supplies

Copies of On the Chocolate Trail.

Chart of Jewish Values

Glossary (see page 223)

Slides/photos/charts prepped with images of certifications, terms used in the lesson

On the Chocolate Trail

On the Chocolate Trail