A NINE TON TEMPLE OF DOOM AND YUMMY CONFECTION

Ozina Specialty Foods in Irvine, California, “the premier importer and distributor of specialty chocolate, pastry and dessert ingredients in North America,” is celebrating its 30^th anniversary by building the largest chocolate sculpture in world, certified by the good people at Guinness who maintain those weird world records.

The sculpture is a model – wait for it – of an ancient Mayan temple. The giant structure weighs in at 18,239 pounds (nine-plus tons) of chocolaty goodness. The previous record was set in Italy in 2010 and the Temple exceeds the Italian creation by 7,500 pounds. The temple was built “proportionally to the ancient temple's true size.” It’s a solid chocolate pyramid six feet high with a base that measures 10 feet square and weighs 3,000 pounds. The whole thing is one-thirtieth the size of the real temple. (Get it? 30th anniversary, 30th the size?)

“Qzina chose the Mayan theme because of the crucial role the culture played in the origins of chocolate,” the press release said. “The Mayans were one of the first civilizations to cultivate Cacao trees and discover the true potential of the cocoa bean. Realizing the delicious possibilities of this powerful discovery, the Mayans worshiped the Cacao tree and praised its beans as the food of the Gods.”

God made me eat all of those yummy M&Ms and Hershey bars and…(see, I can blame God for my short comings, too) but I digress.

Back to the nine-plus tons of chocolate temple, which took more than 400 hours to construct.

“Breaking a Guinness World Record for building the largest chocolate sculpture will be Qzina's greatest masterpiece yet," boasted Richard Foley, Qzina’s founder and CEO (no ego problem there). “We studied Mayan pyramids at great lengths to create an exact replica of the Temple of Kukulkan at Chichen Itza to honor the original chocolatiers. It was important for us to create something memorable in celebration of our 30th anniversary and the grand opening of the Qzina Institute of Chocolate & Pastry.

"It's amazing how far the company has come; from the basement of my family home to a key player in the specialty dessert industry," said Foley.Not to mention the proud owner of a nine ton chocolate temple. Ain’t ma and pa proud?

So, beginning June 4, the temple of chocolate at which I am certain many, many women and a few men I know, will worship or, at least drool, will be on display at the Qzina Institute of Chocolate & Pastry, located in Irvine. Alas, on December 21, 2012 – that oh, so ominous date – Qzina will destroy the temple! Lightning and thunder? Earthquakes? Rogue asteroids?  They’re not saying but my money’s on a big, gooey melting pot.