So to continue our crazy love affair with chocolate, today I thought I'd share with you how your cocoa {or cacao} is made. Back in 1993-94 I spent some time in Brazil. The region I was in had lots of cacao plants, so one day we ended up at a cacao processing plantation. The cacao beans have a gooey, gummy substance around them after they are picked that you have to get off.
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| Me in Brazil, back in 1993, stepping on the cacao to help clean it. |
One step in the cleaning process is called Pisando na Cacao ~ Stepping on the Cacao. They lay out the cacao beans in water then you just start stomping all over them in your barefeet ~ clean of course! ~ until the gooey stuff is gone. Then the water is drained and they are left out to dry.
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| Me, my friend Claudia, her brother Daniel, Claudia's grandma and some random Brazillian worker |
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Pretty crazy, eh? I'm not sure that's how they do it worldwide, but that's how they did it in the region of Brazil I was in at least.
After they are dried then they get processed and ground into the cocoa powders we are so familiar with in baking and chocolate making. I prefer raw cacao powder that hasn't been processed or heat treated over the processed sweetened cocoa powders. Raw cacao is the rich, dark healthy chocolate that I prefer.
Are you a dark chocolate person?
Milk chocolate?
White chocolate?
{Don't even ask me how they make it white! :D }
European chocolate?
Do tell!
Especially in the first photo you look a lot like your daughter. Spooky! ;-)
ReplyDeleteHow interesting - love the photos. It looks like such fun! What did they smell like?
ReplyDeleteI am not a big chocolate person - but I do like dark and I like it best with nuts and caramel or a little sea salt. I can't stand milk chocolate and I only like white if it's with peppermint during the holidays. I sound high maintenance, don't I?
I really enjoy really creamy milk chocolate, even better with fruit or some kind of nut.
ReplyDeleteDark chocolate! I've had 83/85% cacoa before, and the chocolate tastes like dirt. Oddly, I loved it! I'm a fan of Theo's chocolate.
ReplyDeleteIf I want candy, then it's a toss up between Fran's chocolate-covered caramels with sea salt or Cadbury's milk chocolate with almonds.
@ Adrienne ~ I decided to answer your question in its own blog post today because I really couldn't remember what it smelled like! :D
ReplyDelete@ Rebekah ~ I know what you mean about it tasting like dirt. My first foray into real dark chocolate making wasn't that great either! LOL!
@ Michael ~ I know, it IS kinda spooky! I watched an old vid of her in a play and it was like I was watching a younger version of myself! It was kind of weird!
@ Meg ~ sounds yummy!!