Did you know that his is what cacao looks like ripe and just off the tree? I didn’t! It was like meeting a long lost friend.
Returning food to the sacred
Writer | Soul Cultivator | Digital Nomad
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What are you going to do with it?
I didn't. I didn't buy them. Couldn't think of what I would do with them and figured we have a great chocolate maker here on the island already so… For me it was just the wonder of the moment. I had no idea they looked like that at all. Such a great discovery. @DaniaEdibleHI shared that Hawaii is the only state in the US that grows Cacao trees!
From the pod you would have to:
Split the pod and separate the beans from the mucilage
Let the beans ferment for a while
Roast the beans
Winnow the beans from the outer paper shell
Crack and grind the beans
Conch the chocolate into liquor (~10 days)
Flavor with cocoa butter and sugar
Pour into molds.
The conching machine is the only specialized equipment you would need. OTOH, you would then be an artisan bean-to-bar chocolatier.
That is the mother of my favorite cacao chocolates! Loving them in with hot coffee every morning.
– Blake