Okay. It wasn't quite like I pictured it.
I was thinking more of a Costa-Rican-Willy-Wonka...
But we went a little more native today.
I was told the cacao fruit is better than chocolate...
After a day going through the entire process of making chocolate and eating a little taste every step of that way, I'm pretty confident with my original assertion.
Chocolate is the greatest thing ever. but I'm getting ahead of myself.
I should preface the day, by adding that the entire time we've been stuck in the lab writing, it has been gorgeous and sunny most of the days.
You can guess what the weather was like today then.... Rainy rain McRainerson! Phewy.
There was no way in hell I was going to let a little moisture ruin my chocolate infused dream-come-true!
We went through the entire, step-by-step process. From flower to chocolate...brilliant!
It starts as a tiny flower on cacao tree (Theobroma cacao)
And slowly turns into a weird looking fruit
And continues on until it looks swollen and delicious (which is the point I mistakenly ate...)
Once they turn yellow though, the real fun begins.
You could have given me a hundred guesses and I couldn't have imagined the insides would look they way they did.
Those seeds = a...maz...ing!
To get to the real deal you need to let those little miracles ferment for seven days. They go from creamy white to dark and delicious...
About 30 minutes in the oven and the smell starts to get unbearable.
At this point (and let's be honest, every other step) the seeds are like a nutty dark-coco dream-come-true.
Next step. Grindin' 'em up.
And let's be real...I just couldn't help myself...I had to try some paste.
Add a little water, and you have the most glorious coco-dream-drink ever invented. I might not have the translation correct, but I'm pretty sure they call this drink 'nectar of the Gods'.
It keeps getting better. Through in some sugar and cinnamon and it turns into a liquid fudge syrup... at this point my stomach was ready to explode (not like that was going to stop me from gobbling down about 4 million spoonfuls).
Add in some more sugar and even a little nutmeg, through it on ice for 15 minutes...and wallah!
4 hours, and 6 trillion cacao beans later and they pretty much had to roll me out of that place.
It felt great to relax, and even better to eat chocolate all day.
I was on a pretty good sugar high, and I...am..crashin'...and..burnin'! My brain is fried.
Tomorrow we get our first drafts back and we continue writing...
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