Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate!

There is nothing better than a friend. Unless it is a friend with chocolate. — Linda Grayson

We have been working on present, past, and future tenses. Oh, my goodness! I am getting a bit frustrated that there seem to be so many exceptions and differences which makes learning Spanish confusing. I now can relate more to some of my students who struggle with what I am teaching. I have to remind myself that I have been on this journey to learn Spanish a short time. I am definitely progressing. I just wish it would come along a lot more quickly. I also know that English has so many more exceptions and words that do not make any sense when we change tenses. At least the spelling of words in Spanish is pretty straight forward. 

After classes on Tuesday, I decided to go on the Caburé Chocolate Tour. Unfortunately, they needed more people to attend the tour to make it happen, but I walked to the restaurant, ate lunch, and was given an abbreviated tour by Bob for a discounted rate. (Bob is an ecologist/biologist from the US who has spent his career in Costa Rica working in ecology. 

The walk over was interesting. I have a very rudimentary map. The roads are not named or marked. They do have signs for everything stuck on the side of the road. I saw the sign for Stella’s Restaurant & Coffee Shop and figured I had gone to far so I walked back. I took a side road, but no, that wasn’t it either. Finally, I walked back to CPI and asked for directions. I retraced my steps and walked past Stella’s sign this time. Had I taken five more steps, I would have realized the sign was not in front of the business but a sign to promote the business down the road. Finally, I found Café Caburé.

I definitely want to learn more about making chocolate. Even though we call them cacao beans, they are really seeds. Cacao trees only grow in the tropical lowlands. Today, the majority of cocao beans are grown in Indonesia and West Africa. Costa Rica also grows cacao beans. The cacao trees grow very quickly. So, if the price of chocolate goes down, they will cut down the trees and grow a different product. When prices go up, they will replant cacao trees which will be producing significant amounts of cacao beans in 1 1/2 years. 

Chocolate is not produced in the tropical areas as it is too warm. Chocolate can be produced in Monteverde because it is cooler at the high elevation of 5,900 feet. Even here it is challenging to produce. There is a sweet spot for the temperature which I think he said is about 65-70 degrees. 

Farmers grow massive amounts of the cacao beans, but the drying process has not been studied nor perfected. The drying is very inconsistent. They dry the beans in nature which causes many variances due to heat and moisture. The beans might dry too quickly.  Too much moisture causes the beans to become moldy in spots. Bob travels to the tropical areas of Costa Rica to hand select his beans every few months. 

Once he has his stash of beans, he puts them in this grinder.

They are in the grinder for 60 hours. The grinder contains plates that continually grind the beans.

The friction creates heat and the cocoa butter in the beans begins to melt.

Here is where it gets murky for me. There is actually a lot that goes into the process of making chocolate. 

Bob must crystalize some of the chocolate - maybe 1/3 of the batch - so the chocolate looks smooth and dark. It briefly cools on a marble table. He spreads it into a thin layer and uses two spatulas to help it cool evenly. Bob uses a hand held thermometer to test the temperature of the chocolate. Once it is at the correct temperature, he puts it back into the batch. The crystallization of part of the batch is enough to help the chocolate retain its color and smoothness. 

From there, he will pour it into a mold or make it into bars. It is amazing how they figured out how to create chocolate. Bob also pointed out how amazing it is no one has completed any scientific research to determine how to dry the cacao bean perfectly. 

I will be learning more as I am going on El Trapiche Tour today. This guided tour includes information on the processes of sugar cane, coffee, and chocolate. And, to wrap things up once I get back to Nevada, Henderson has Ethel M’s Chocolate. They also purchase raw cacao beans, roast them on site, and create delicious, high-quality chocolate.