The easiest way to have a successful party is arm your guests with sharp pointy forks and have them coat all kinds of foods with chocolate. Everyone loves chocolate so why not give them what they want? And a chocolate fondue fountain is a great additional to any party.

Chocolate fondue is delicious. Whoever came up with the idea of dunking bananas, strawberries, cakes, pineapples, pretzels and even potato chips into chocolate should be given a medal. But when it comes to large parties, a fondue pot just won’t cut it. That’s where the chocolate fondue fountain comes in. If you’ve ever been to a wedding that had one, then you know what a I mean.

Lately, chocolate fountains are being set up more and more at smaller gatherings in people’s homes. You can buy a nice home version of a chocolate fountain now at a reasonable price. Wouldn’t that just make your next barbecue that much more memorable?

The melting of the chocolate is usually done in a double boiler or the microwave oven. The heater in most of the chocolate fountains made for home use do not get hot enough to melt chocolate. The do get hot enough to keep melted chocolate from getting hard again and that’s enough to get the job done. You’ll need to add vegetable oil to the chocolate to keep it flowing through the fountain.

The best chocolate for a fountain has a higher percentage of cocoa butter so that it’s more liquidy when it melts. You can find it at gourmet shops or places where they sell expensive chocolate. But don’t worry, you can also just use regular old chocolate chips. Just remember to add the vegetable oil or else your fountain will get jammed.

If you don’t have a lot of time before your party to cut up fruits and cakes for dunking, why not buy a fruit platter. Salty foods will also be a hit in the chocolate fountain. Be sure to put out pretzels and potato chips. People may be hesitant to try them at first but once they do, they’ll be hooked. Marshmallows and angel food cake are also popular. You really have a lot of options when it comes to foods to dunk in your chocolate fondue fountain. Just about anything tastes great when dunked in chocolate.

Cleanup is a breeze if your fountain is dishwasher safe but be sure to keep it running until you’re ready to clean it. Letting the chocolate cool and get hard will turn cleaning your fountain into a major chore.

A chocolate fondue fountain has always been a memorable item to have at a wedding or large party but home versions are also gaining in popularity. Once you’ve seen the attention it draws, you may even add a chocolate fountain to your next party.