How
to make chocolate like a Panamanian
The
next time you chow down on some chocolate cake, a snickers, or even trader joes
fair trade organic 70% raw cocoa bar, I would
like that my readers take a minute to think about chocolate consumption
and the work necessary to produce it.
I want to give insight from the chocolate producers’
perspective. Don’t worry, I’m
not writing this is make you feel guilty and in hopes that you’ll never eat
chocolate again. In fact, I learned and wrote the
recipe for something I
call ‘Pana-Choco drank’.
For all you
chocolate lovers out there, you can try this easy-to-follow recipe and consume
chocolate like a Panamanian cocoa
farmer!
1.
First, you wake up
around 6. If there’s food,
you eat breakfast, and head out for the farm around 7 am. Hike
up muddy hills and cross rivers with rubber boots.
Depending on which farm you decide to visit, you
continue walking for 30 minutes or 2 hours.
2.
When you reach
your cocoa trees, you look for the fresh fruit ready to be picked. You find
what looks to be gems, harvest them with your bad-ass machete,
and cut open the fruit.
If you find caterpillars, you
may be discouraged, but keep
looking because selling your cocoa will be the only income you receive for the
next few months. Thankfully you are an
organic producer so you will receive more pay per pound. Look
for other fruits that have healthy seeds.
 |
| Healthy cocoa tree with seed pods |
3.
After 5 hours in
the farm, no lunch, and 30 pounds of
cocoa seeds on your back, bring the seeds
home.
4.
Ready to make some
chocolate? Well too bad you still have to wait a week, maybe more, for them to
dry. First put the seeds in a large wooden
box. This is to ‘ferment’ the seeds and start the drying process. Keep the
seeds in this box for ~3-4 days until the
milky cream around the seeds (part of the fruit) has dried. It is important to
not open the box during this time as it will release the heat needed to dry the
seeds.
 |
| The white one still has the milky cream |
1.
Next,
the most crucial step, drying the seeds. If you have a ‘secador’ (a
little house with plastic over it to trap heat)
lay your seeds out in this secador. If you do
not have one, lay your seeds out in the sun to dry. If it is raining, wait
until the sun comes out. This
could be anywhere from 2 hours
to 6 days depending on the season.
 |
| Drying in the sun |
 |
| Secador |
 |
| Seeds in the Secador |
5.
To check if the
seeds are dry, simply crack open the shell and observe the cocoa nib inside.
6.
Once your seeds
are dry, it’s time to make some chocolate drank! But first you are going to
sell the majority of your seeds to the local chocolate
cooperative because you and your family are very hungry and need money to buy
rice. If it is the ‘off season’ (December-August), you must
take your seeds to the office of the cooperative, about 20 minutes by bus,
that is if you have money for the bus. If it is ‘season’
you can save that bus money because the cooperative is willing to come to your
community and buy your cocoa.
7.
If steps
4 and step 5 were done well, you will earn a whopping 70 cents/pound
for your organic seeds. If your seeds are not completely dry, or if traces of
chemicals from your conventional-farming
neighbor are found on your seeds, you will be lucky to get 40
cents/pound. Why are
conventional seeds paid so much less? You can thank Africa and other Central
American countries for flooding the market.
8.
NOW it’s time to
make some chocolate drank.
Put some dry
seeds in a bowl and crush them with a large stick. This
cracks off the shell and exposes the cocoa nibs inside. After some crushing,
shake the bowl in a matter that is impossible to describe.
Hopefully this video helps. This magically makes all the shell pieces disappear
from your bowl so you only have cocoa.
 |
Crushing the seeds
 |
9.
Next, put your cocoa in a ‘maquina de moler’. If you are not lucky enough to have had $25 to
buy one, borrow someone’s but expect to give them chocolate
for your loan. Grind the cocoa
through the maquina until your cocoa is in an almost liquid-paste form and your
shoulders are about to fall off.
10.
Almost done! Form
balls from the paste. After a few hours, the balls will
harden and are easy to store. When ready, put a ball in boiling hot water,
watch it melt, add milk and sugar, and FINALLY enjoy your
‘Pana-Choco drank’.
I hope this easy, 10 step recipe finds its way to
friends and family in the states. Please share your success stories ;)
