chocolate cookie
A long handled goulette is used to
harvest the pods because the trees
are two delicate to be climbed by
workmen. Women and children
follow behind the pickers, called
tumbadores gathering the pods and
placing them in baskets they carry
on their heads.
A machete is used to break the
pods open; a good breaker can open
500 pods in an hour! Each pod
contains between 25 and 50 almond
shaped beans. The cacao beans
come in several colors, white,
cream or lavender and are
surrounded by a white or pink,
stringy pulp which hold them
together. The beans are about one
inch in diameter; after the pods
are opened the workers scoop the
seeds and pulp from the pods. The
beans begin changing color as soon
as they meet the air through
oxidation, changing them to
different shades of purple.
Within a few days the pulp
ferments away, the seeds are then
placed in baskets or wooden boxes
for the fermentation process which
removes the raw, bitter taste and
to develop the cocoa butter
(essential oils). This part of
the process takes between two and
ten days, during this time the
beans change to a dark brown color.
chocolate cookie
chocolate gift basket
