Ba-te-ba-te-CHO-CO-LA-TE

In the small kitchen of Mama Chepita I looked at a skillet full of roasted cacao beans and wondered how they would become the deep, rich, flavorful hot chocolate I had just drank. In comparison to typical candy bar, her chocolate was far superior. It had a dark nutty flavor that reminded me of a hardy cup of coffee and toasted nuts. It was magnificent. Mama Chepita was darling women who had my full attention and interest the entire stay at her farm. Her cacao farm, La Finca Virgen, was structured like an orchard on a steep sloping hill overlooking the city of Pocora, and the best view I have seen of Costa Rica yet. She grows three varieties of cacao and uses a combination of them to create chocolate. Learning how she creates such wonderful chocolate is a memory and a skill I hope I never forget. She had passion and a deep connection to her indigenous roots and producing good quality cacao. We learned from Professor Pocasangre of Earth University that farming cacao is not the most profitable work in Costa Rica. Many people do it because they feel stronger and more connected to their ancestors by carrying on the production of cacao.

I felt a great sense of pride learning how to make this chocolate with Mama Chepita’s cacao fruit. The first step in the chocolate making process is to harvest the cacao fruits, remove the membrane-covered beans and ferment them. The sweet white membrane covering the beans is what provides the sugar for the fermentation process. After the beans are fermented from between 3-6 days, they are dried outdoors in large tin trays with a roof like covering. The beans are dried completely, which takes a varying amount of time due to the extremely rainy conditions. When the beans are dry they must be roasted in a cast iron pan until they make popping noises like popcorn. After they are roasted and cool a little the outer shell is easily removed and the chocolate bean inside is ready to be ground. We used a small table grinder and ground a small amount of beans. Mama Chepita quickly started mixing powdered milk, sugar, water, and the ground beans together in a bowl. She transferred it to the cast iron pot and turned the heat on high. At first there was only a small change in the mixture but then it started to become darker and darker, and thicker until it looked like deep chocolate fudge. The whole kitchen smelled wonderful during the whole process and the final chocolate product smelled even better. Once it wasfinished we poured it into a bowl and sprinkled sugar on top!