| A friend is renting a chocolate fondue fountain for | | | | melting chocolate will do; you don't have to use |
| her wedding, the news of which sparked off my | | | | special chocolate fondue fountain chocolate. We |
| new born interest in the phenomena that is the | | | | had armed ourselves with 900g just to get |
| 'chocolate fondue fountain'. I was told that a | | | | started, although we got so stuck in that this did |
| chocolate fondue fountain can be an eye catching, | | | | not last long and someone had to be requisitioned |
| mouth watering central feature for all sorts of | | | | to the all night garage for more just after 1.00am. |
| social occasions, parties and events. This got me | | | | Our experience has confirmed the universal truth |
| thinking, 'Why wait for the wedding?' So I hired a | | | | amongst chocolate fondue fountain aficionados |
| chocolate fondue fountain for a night and invited a | | | | that when it comes to chocolate, the more the |
| few friends around to test it and see what all the | | | | merrier, since you need a fair amount to get a |
| fuss was about.We got the chocolate fondue | | | | good flow and a respectable looking fountain. We |
| fountain out of the box easy enough and it | | | | were having a party after all.Some bright spark |
| revealed itself to be a stainless steel structure | | | | suggested adding a dash of vegetable oil to the |
| with three tiers, with an overall height of about 15 | | | | mix to make the chocolate flow easier, and the |
| inches top to bottom. It looked harmless enough, | | | | tests were conclusive that this did work to loosen |
| and was easy to set up so we proceeded to plug | | | | up the flow. A party being a party, someone |
| it in. Power was provided by the usual three-pin | | | | usually gets carried away and our someone |
| socket.So now the science: the chocolate gets | | | | decided to add alcohol. Bad move. And things had |
| plonked into the basin, gets heated there and then | | | | been going so smoothly. Our river of running |
| carried to the top of the fountain via a rotating | | | | chocolate turned into clotted lump of muck faster |
| internal shaft. My internet research later revealed | | | | than a round of tequila slammers. You live and |
| the shaft to be a form of Archimedes screw. | | | | learn.Final verdictVisual impact: 10/10Popularity: 10 |
| However, there are other ways of getting the | | | | 10Ease of set up and operation: 9/10Versatility: 9 |
| chocolate to the top of the fountain, namely a | | | | 10 |
| pump (the most common method). The box for | | | | We tried putting various things into the falling |
| our chocolate fondue fountain said that a screw | | | | curtain of chocolate, including marshmallows, |
| had been chosen over a pump because the | | | | pineapple, strawberries, and cake and all of them |
| screw eliminates the possibility of blockages | | | | tasted wonderful. Shame about the alchohol.So go |
| associated with some pumps, so the fountain will | | | | hire a chocolate fondue fountain, or better still go |
| always flow smoothly. My research did reveal, | | | | right in to a shop and buy one. There are bargains |
| however, a general preference for auger-style | | | | to be had out there, and it is the opinion of this |
| pumps amongst the more pricey chocolate | | | | reviewer that if a chocolate fondue fountain |
| fondue fountains.A big surprise was that any | | | | comes to dinner, you won't be disappointed. |