The life-size camel (dromedary, for perfectionists) is the feature piece of the Lindt Chocolate Festival at Jeddah’s Hilton hotel, which starts today and ends on May 21. The official opening will take place at 7 p.m. at the Hilton’s main lobby, and will run daily from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. starting tomorrow.

Aljood, the camel, was created for the event by a master chocolatier — whose name Lindt is keeping something of a mystery. Aljood will keep an eye on the proceedings, including a nightly live chocolate kitchen where “Mr. C” — the chocolatier — will demonstrate his esoteric skills in a real case of: “See the Show, Eat the Cast.”

Aljood took five days to create from professional quality Lindt chocolate — the quality used for their bars and pastries, Mr. C told Arab News. Built over an underlying support, the camel took shape layer by layer, each one applied by hand at a carefully controlled temperature (about 35 Celsius) and consistency. Each layer had to harden and be smoothed before the next could be applied. The final layer was burnished and tempered — heated and cooled twice with a glorified hair-dryer — to stop it from melting while on display.

“The first layer is the most important one,” explains Mr. C. “This one gives you the underlying shape, so that when the rest are applied, it keeps the shape and adds strength to the structure.

It was certainly something of a team effort. The Hilton’s pastry chef, Mohammed Rizwan, said that there was a great deal of physical effort involved. “We had to keep a stream of containers of chocolate coming at just the right temperature and time to make sure that the layers built up properly,” he said. For him, there is more to come for he will be producing a buffet of 21 varieties of chocolate cakes and pastries during the 10-day event. Unique specialties include chocolate cannelloni, a nine-layer chocolate and sour cream heart-stopping cake and a hot chocolate and chili drink.

The camel, comments Mr. C, was one of the easier challenges in his extensive experience that included five years with Lindt. “I once made a complete roulette table, carved legs and all, out of chocolate and a three meter long scale model of the Golden Gate bridge,” he said and modestly agreed that it called for some rather special skills.

Swiss-born Mr. C trained as a pastry chef and chocolatier, won a clutch of local and international awards for his skills, traveled the world on cruise ships and worked in fine hotels. He originally became interested in a career as a chef after helping out in a bakery owned by a member of his family. “It was the best way to learn. Apprenticeships like that give you the hands-on experience, and it grew from there,” he said. He is now based in the Kingdom creating exquisite dishes for — well, we stopped just there.

Sandy Gisler, event organizer for Lindt would not be drawn on the weight of chocolate used to create Aljood.

“Lots!” she said. “If you can guess how much, we will give you your own weight in chocolate!” Sounds like a challenge that will be rather oversubscribed.

And after ten days on show at the chocolate festival, what use is a chocolate camel in a desert? It is entirely edible, but after being on display it would not be wise to try — for reasons of simple hygiene.

Gisler said that they plan to auction Aljood and donate the proceeds to a local children’s charity. Youthful wonder and amazement at the beginning of the event, useful even afterwards.

That’s camels for you.