There are a few things in life that I hope to never live without. Dark chocolate is one of those things for me. When researching Costa Rica and “Things to Do”, a chocolate tour comes up repeatedly. Now, I like to eat chocolate, but I really was not familiar with the history of it or how it’s made. I apparently didn’t even realize how it grew!

Bear with me here. A little technical and long!

Cacao is a symbol of abundance, death, and rebirth. So it seems a bit fitting for my current stage of life.

I probably could have chosen a less scholarly “tour”—the kids may have appreciated more eating and less factual information—but we learned so very much! My nerdy self took notes, so presuming Ansel, the owner/farmer, knows her stuff, I have a newfound wealth of cacao knowledge. This little starter of facts has led me to dig in deeper so I can truly appreciate the greatness of cacao—something that was known by the ancients and now recognized as an antioxidant and “health food”. How great when your sweet tooth (well, I like dark, dark, dark chocolate—so kinda bitter tooth) and a way to decrease inflammation converge!

Cacao: Food of the Gods

The day started by simply finding the farm. It is on an unnamed road and fairly nondescript. A small sign graces the gate, behind which you find an array for your senses. Chickens and ducks wander around. Two foster pups greet you. The open-air, shall I call it a kitchen (?) had a giant table at which people from around the world meet to learn together. There were people from Sweden, another pair from the US, and a gentleman that was gifted the tour from friends. I am unsure where he is from, but somewhere other than where I call home! A chicken was working on laying an egg in the corner (hilarious) and the smell of chocolate wafted through the air.

Soon, we wandered a short way into the farm and met a 140-year-old cacao tree who was working on gifting several pods to the world. We learned that cacao, per Ansel, is 10 million years old and survived several Ice Ages. I struggled to find supporting evidence for this, but she had quite a few books on cacao, so I’ll go with it. 😊. That said, I did find that it was domesticated, depending on the resource, 4,000-5,300 years ago. Wow! It grows in a band near the equator and was named *Theobroma* (“food of the gods”) *cacao* by a Swedish scientist. It’s been used to make a fermented drink, as money, as medicine, and as a pleasure. They are shade trees and prefer the understory of the rainforest. Apparently, we are staying in a huge cacao forest on this side of Costa Rica!

As I listen fervently, my kids are playing in the dirt and petting the puppies, thankfully quietly. We learn more and more, such as the tree reproducing by cloning itself as well as sexual reproduction. Soon, we make our way back towards the kitchen. Alex and Delaney are asked to pick a ripe cacao pod, and it is HEAVY! I know a lot of things, but I did not realize that the fruit is actually quite meaty. There are about 40 seeds per pod, all covered in a white tissue. This part of the fruit is quite sweet! The seeds, however, are definitely not! I did not realize that they are a deep, dark purple. High antioxidant quality, I have been informed. They were quite bitter, which I did expect. I will spare the details here of how the actual fruit is removed for the chocolate-making process because it was kinda gross, but what was left for us to mess with was a bunch of naked seeds that had been dried in the sun. And this is where the fun for the kids began.

From Pod to Chocolate

We got to taste the nibs and then roast them! 🧚Delaney🧚 was first up to stir them while they roasted. The smells were wonderful! Once roasted, we tasted them again. Still quite bitter! I personally found them quite tasty, but I love high-percentage cacao dark chocolate.

Grinding and Processing

We then peeled the outer skin and separated the seeds. It was then ground through a grinder. A *metate*, an ancient Mesoamerican tool, was used to further grind and compress the seeds. I was expecting a dry powdery substance, but no. It formed a substance that was almost clay-like. The details here get a little hazy, but there was talk about crystallization and using cacao butter as a starter. Once it was mixed in the correct proportion, it was placed in a mold and then chilled at just the right temp. We learned a bit of the history of modern chocolate along the way, including Lindt’s trade secret of conching.

Tasting the final product

Once the tempering was done, we were able to taste and enjoy our finished product. I loved it. The kids, not so much! 73% cacao is not the kind of chocolate they like. They’re more in the milk chocolate camp. More for me 🙌 since we each got to wrap ours up in little foil squares to take home.

The Finished Product

Overall, this was a wonderful tour full of interesting, new information. It held my attention the whole time. I have heard Delaney tell the story and history, with the help of pictures, so I know the kids retained a lot of information as well. And I still have a few bits of chocolate left to enjoy!