A chocolate mediant is a small disc of melted chocolate, studded with fruit and nuts. The word mendiant comes from the Latin 'mendicans', which relates to begging. In this case the beggars would be people from religious orders begging for alms. Traditionally the mendiants have 4 toppings which relate to the Roman Catholic medicant monastic orders and the colours of the robes: almonds - white to represent the Dominicans raisins - grey to represent the Franciscans hazelnuts - brown to represent the Carmelites dried figs - purple to represent the Augustinians.