How to make everything from scratch: Chocolate bar.
My first step for making my chocolate bar entirely from scratch will be harvesting the fruit of a cacao tree
Since cacao is not native to Minnesota, i'm gonna have to head south
Despite being the birth place of chocolate, Mexico today produces less than 2% of the world supply of cacao
Instead, nearly 70% of cacao comes from west Africa
With constant reports of the use of child labor and forced slavery in this industry
There's a very real possibility that the chocolate you eat everyday, is made by the hands of child slaves.
With this dark side to the production of chocolate, i want to find a more social responsible source for my chocolate
The Soconusco region of Chiapas, Mexico, is believed to be one of the earliest locations that cacao was grown as a crop
As far back as 4000 years ago.
Despite many challenges, this region still produces cacao just as their ancestors did millenniums ago
There are 3 main varieties of cacao plants. Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario.
80 to 90% of chocolate is produced from the Forastero variety because of its higher yields and stronger disease resistence
However, the Criollo is a much rarer variety, known for being a delicacy
In Soconusco, i met up with Jorge, president of CASFA. An organisation of farmers who are agreeing on sustainable methods
for producing caco that both respects the environment and the local farmers
This region of Soconusco is known for its production of Criollo cacao
After arriving in the city of Tapachula, Jorge took us out to the jungles
where they grow their cacao. Instead of a plantation farm with fields of cacao trees
their trees are integrated into the natural ecosystem of the jungle
This method is more environmentally stable and prevents deforestation and monocultures
but increases the spread of potential cacao diseases
After a shot track into the jungle in the sweltering ninety degree heat of this humid December day
I assisted Jorge by planting a seedling that they had matured in the nursery
He had me count off 4 paces from the next closest cacao tree to ensure that the wouldn't compete with each other
Then they had me clear the brush with a machete.
Then dig a hole
I then filled the hole with organic compost
to give the nutrients it would need; then we planted the sapling
Once filled in, foliage was added around it
to help protect it
So now that's planted it'll take about 4 years
for it to mature and start harvest it so... I just have to come back in four years
But it takes more than time for a cacao tree to start producing fruit, so Jorge took me to a 1 year old tree
to show me what needs to be done to care for a cacao tree before it can be harvested
They had me go through and trim any excess sprout that the tree had grown
Forcing it to instead put its energy toward growing the cacao fruit
And to grow more horizontally instead of vertically
An extra challenge to gardening in the jungle was some of the not so friendly insects
Next we leveled out the land around the tree to help protect the roots
And added some compost to help it grow
Knowing very little spanish, following their directions was a bit difficoult
Some things were lost in translation
Lastly, the cacao tree requires a balance of shade and sun
So we had to trim some of the surrounding trees so to get just the right amount
My machete skills weren't exactly the best...
Now in three years this tree wil produce fruit
But to find mature trees I could harvest I went to another member of CASVA. Jose
He showed me around his beautiful home.
And right out is backdoor is a jungle full of exotic fruits and vegetables
In a method that is compatible with existing ecosystem,
Jose grows plantains, mangos, limes and numerous other tropical crops including cacao
I found it incredibly captivating to handle these strange, alien looking pods
that just grew out of a tree
I've never really made the connection that the delicious chocolate we eat actually comes from a tree's fruit
Shall I go behind it?
There we go
Doesn't smell like chocolate
Sure
Hmm, smells like a fruit
Oh, yeah
It's like a bitter chocolate but also tastes like a fruit
Trying the raw cacao fruit, really blew away my expectations
While having a slight bitter chocolate taste at the center, it mostly tasted like a regular fruit
Not at all what I expected
So, how many pods grow on a tree?
So from an entire tree like this how much chocolate would you produce from that?
So does the outside of the pods serve any purpose?
So it can be used in a lot of different foods, what's some of your favourite things to use up with?
Inside, Jose showed me some of the other products, including the raw nips which had a nice chocolate flavour
while not being overly sweet
and resembling the texture of flax or oats
The show me the jelly that can be made from the outside the pod
It's made by boiling the rind for a few hours and the result
is a very sweet, kind of pineapple flavoured jam that's eaten on bread
It's actually good, very sweet, doesn't really tastes like chocolate.
Thanks to the help from Jose and everyone from CASVA, I now have my raw cacao beans
However in the current state, they don't really taste much like chocolate
Prepairing is a crucial fermenting and roasting steps
that give it the real chocolate flavour, so that's what I'll need to learn how to do next