9-Ton Chocolate Mayan Temple Breaks Guinness World Record In Irvine
IRVINE (CBS) — The world's largest chocolate sculpture is now in Orange County!
In celebration of their 30th anniversary, the owners of Qzina Specialty Foods decided to build a more than 6 foot tall chocolate pyramid tribute to the Mayans, who are widely considered the world's first chocolatiers.
"The Mayans actually used the cocoa bean for currency first, and then after they discovered that if they ground it up, they could make an incredible chocolate drink from it," Richard Foley, founder and CEO, told KNX 1070.
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The giant sculpture weighs in at 18,239 pounds and stands 6.5 feet tall, 10 feet wide, and 10 feet long. It is topped off with a Mayan man holding a spear.
"We kinda can't get it out of the building. It's too big to get out any of the doors," Foley added.
The 100 percent chocolate pyramid has also broken the Guinness World Record for the largest chocolate sculpture. The record was previously set in Italy in 2010 with a statue weighing more than 7,500 pounds.
Qzina's Corporate Pastry Chef, Francois Mellet, was the lead architect on the sweet treat and spent more than 400 hours on the cocoa carving.
The pyramid will available for the public to see beginning June 4 at Qzina's demonstration center . . . but it won't be around for long.
"We thought . . . that we might destroy the pyramid on December 21, which is the end of the Mayan calendar," Foley said.
The method for destruction has yet to be determined.
