The CST hosted a fun-filled, hands-on event on The Science of Chocolate, perfectly timed on the eve of Valentine's Day, as a part of the Brainy Bites series exploring food science. The two back-to-back sessions were led by a Peruvian artisan chocolate maker, Alex Pimentel, a chocolate processing machine engineer, Bhahavi Veerapaneni, and CST Assistant Director, Vivian Feng. Students broke open fresh cacao beans, crushed roasted beans by hand, and fed the cacao nibs to the grinder, while listening to the science behind each step. They also learned about the polymorphic nature of cocoa butter, the science behind tempering chocolate. Students had a blast making their own bars of 75% dark chocolate sourced from Peru and the Ivory Coast to take home and share with friends!