A flood of chocolate

Ever dreamed of toggling up in a protective suit and running with gay abandon through a rushing waterfall of molten chocolate? Now you can thanks to jellymongers Bompass & Parr – well, apart from the running bit, health and safety probably won’t like that.

The eccentric confectionery experts have been working on the chocolate waterfall, which is due to open at London’s Whiteleys Shopping Centre on 22 April.

The creation was inspired by Sam Bompass’ hero Alexis Soyer, a ‘Victorian Jamie Oliver’ who created a food grotto as part of the Great Exhibition, including a waterfall. Soyer monetised the grotto by provideing umbrellas for visitors, shoddy specimens full of holes for cheap and then generous brollies for 2p, says Bompass.

Visitors to the modern-day chocolate version can roam through the waterfall and bottle their own chocolate, customising it with flavours such as lavender, jasmine or pine.

The chocolate formula itself has been developed with food technologist Dr Rachel Edwards-Stuart, to create a slick shiny substance that stands up to repeated flow through the waterfall – more than 12 000 litres of chocolate an hour will tumble down the falls.

Sound designers have created three soundscapes which sample bubbling chocolate textures to accompany the experience and worked havewith tactile sounds and sub low bass to create the heavy rush of a Niagra-falls strength waterfall.

Bompass laughs, ‘It’s a bit over the top but we want to give people an escape.’

The Chocolate Waterfall is at Whiteleys Shopping Centre from 22 -25 April.