Sandor Bodo/The Providence Journal-USA TODAY NETWORK

Chocolate Maker

Aura Fajardo Quintero uses Venezuelan flavors in her handmade treats

By Jessica McKenna-Ratjen

From the February 2023 Issue

Learning Objective: Students will measure liquid volume to model the skills of a chocolatier.

Lexile: 920L; 740L

Focus Area: Measurement and Data,

It’s easy to mistake Aura Fajardo Quintero’s shop as a small jewelry store. Shelves filled with fancy packages line the walls. Shimmery objects are displayed in glass cases. But all the treasure in this shop is made of chocolate!

Fajardo Quintero started Aura’s Chocolate Bar in September 2017. She first made her treats in a shared kitchen. Since then, she’s opened her own storefront in Cranston, Rhode Island. Now she makes about 20,000 chocolate confections by hand every year.

A Passion for Chocolate

Fajardo Quintero was born in Venezuela. Growing up, she loved the fruity, nutty taste of Venezuelan chocolate.

After she went to college in Providence, Rhode Island, she had a chance to make her own. Fajardo Quintero fell in love with the chocolate-making process. “I think it chose me instead of the other way around,” she says.

Making Chocolate Treats

To make a chocolate bar, Fajardo Quintero first melts chocolate in a tempering machine. It controls the chocolate’s temperature and stirs it constantly. She then carefully cools the melted chocolate to between 86° and 89° Fahrenheit, depending on whether she’s working with white, dark, or milk chocolate. Finally, she pours it into molds, where it cools and hardens. If she does it right, the chocolate will shine and snap when broken. About 20 minutes later, the bars are ready to sell!

Fajardo Quintero has designed more than 100 unique chocolate treats for her shop. She mixes up popular Rhode Island flavors like coffee milk and caramel. She also experiments with global flavors like matcha and lemon lavender honey. She uses chocolate seeds called cacao from Venezuela as the base for most of her treats.

“I'm truly proud of the cacao produced in the country I was born,” Fajardo Quintero says. “I intend to share that chocolate love with the world. This love shines through my confections and echoes the world of my ancestors.”

Math Talk

If solid chocolate were melted into liquid chocolate, would it have the same volume? Explain.

Hands-on Math: Liquid Volume

Chocolatiers melt chocolate into liquid so they can mold it into bars and other shapes. They precisely measure the volume of the liquid chocolate, or the amount of space it takes up in a container. Try measuring liquid volume like a chocolatier!

Materials

Water, food coloring (optional) • *Short, wide container • *Tall, thin container • 500 mL beaker • *2-liter bottle

*You’ll need one set per group

TEACHERS: See the Digital Resource Guide for setup instructions for this activity.

Procedure

STEP 1
Predict which container has the greatest and the least volume of water. Record your predictions.

STEP 2
Pour the water from the tall, thin container into the 500 mL beaker. Determine and record the number of milliliters of water.

STEP 3
Repeat Step 2 for the short, wide container and the 2-liter bottle.

STEP 4
Analyze your results as a class.

Analysis

Answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

Which container did you predict would have the greatest volume of water? Why?

Were your predictions correct? Explain.

Did any of your measurements surprise you? Why?

Continue Your Learning

Rewatch the video “Chocolate!” (above). Then design your own chocolate bar! Decide what type of base chocolate you will use (white, milk, or dark) and what ingredients you will mix into it, such as pretzels, caramel chunks, or cookie pieces. Then draw a picture of your chocolate bar. Make a list beside your picture of the ingredients inside your chocolate bar, including about how many pieces of each mix-in will be in each bar. Which mix-in will you use the most?
Find 4 containers around your home that can hold liquid. Bowls, plastic containers, and cups are a good place to start. Fill each container with water. Then, using a measuring cup, measure the amount of water each container can hold. Finally, order the measurements from greatest to least. Which container held the most water? Did any of your findings surprise you?

Multimedia

1. SPARK ENGAGEMENT.

Play the video “Chocolate!” Then, before or after reading the article, spark a discussion based on the following questions.

What is your favorite treat to eat?

How do you think chocolate is made?

Name 2 units of measurement you know.

2. INTRODUCE THE MATH CONCEPT AND VOCABULARY

Hold up a cup of water. If you wanted to measure how much water was in this cup, what tools could you use? (Answers may vary. Possible answer: a measuring cup or beaker)

When you go to the grocery store, what measurements do you see on the sides of drink containers? (Answers may vary. Possible answers: liters, cups, milliliters, gallons.)

Today, we are going to measure liquid volume. Liquid volume is the amount of space liquid takes up in a container. We can measure it using liters and milliliters.

Hold up a 500 mL beaker. This beaker measures liquid volume in milliliters. Pour the water from the cup into the beaker. We read it by looking at the surface of the water. The line closest to where the surface of the water touches the glass is our measurement. Allow every member of the class time to come up and practice reading the measurement.

3. WORK THROUGH THE “WHAT TO DO” BOX.

Divide the class into small groups. Pour any amount less than 500 mL of water into each group’s tall container, short container, and 2-liter bottle. If using food coloring, give each group a different color.

What is the difference between your three containers? (Answers may vary. Possible answers: They are all different sizes; they can hold different amounts of water.)

What is the greatest amount of water that your beaker can hold? (500 mL)

If we were doing this experiment with juice instead of water, would the measurement of liquid in each container be different? Explain. (No, the measurements would be the same. Liquid volume measures the amount of liquid, regardless of its type.)

4. REINFORCE WITH MATH PRACTICE.

Have students complete questions 1 through 3.

Journal Reflection:

Aura Fajardo Quintero uses Venezuelan cacao in her chocolate treats because she is proud of her country’s traditions. Have students write a journal reflection about a family tradition they are proud to participate in.