Bean to Bar

Summer Break! What does a school teacher do when she's not in school?  Become a student, of course!  I was fortunate to spend some time in the South of St. Lucia where cocoa plantations thrive.  At this time of year, the rainy season, the land is brilliant green and lush with productivity.

Some of the tourist destinations in the south offer a Bean to Bar tour. So, we decided to create our own chocolate bar production process.  After harvesting brilliant red cocoa pods and pulling out the white, nectar wrapped beans, we gently swaddled them in a banana leaf and set to ferment  in a dark corner.  After about a week....Failure!  Mold grew instead of the anticipated fermented sugars.

The theory on YouTube is that the fermented beans are then roasted, cracked open and ground into delicious chocolate.  If you don't at first succeed, pick another pod.  Success will be all the sweeter!