Alphabet 2020: C is for Chocolate

Have you had enough chocolate yet? Is there even such a thing?

We spent 3 hours on Sunday morning watching a slow TV special which was focused on the Cadbury chocolate production factory here in Australia, and it was fascinating. Over the course of 3 hours, we followed the journey of the various ingredients from field/pasture to the easter eggs and chocolate rabbits we find on our shelves ready for Easter.

The journey starts in the sugar cane fields of Northern Queensland, where the sugar cane is harvested and goes through the sugar milling processed. Then it head to the dairy farms of Tasmania for the milk, and then through a variety of steps until it gets to the chocolate factory.

It was a very interesting way to spend a few hours on a Sunday morning when we are all staying at home anyway and I learnt a couple of things I didn't know about my own city!

What I thought I would talk about today though, is a far less mechanised version of chocolate making, which is a day that we spent on a chocolate tour in Honduras when we were on our Caribbean cruise in May last year.

This was a memorable day for many reasons, not least because it was the day when we officially got engaged. We had talked about getting married prior to going on holiday, and plans were already in motion for our November wedding.  By talked about I mean the location was booked, the dress was on order and flights booked. What we hadn't done yet was bought any rings. I had been looking but hadn't found the right one yet. We didn't find out until we got on the cruise that the Caribbean is a good place to buy gemstones!

We made our way straight to the jewellery store when we got off the ship and after a few missteps, found the perfect ring at the right price. It was exactly what I was looking for as I wanted a different from the average band style with diamonds, as I didn't want both an engagement and wedding ring. My original plan was to only wear this as a wedding ring, but in the end I did wear it as an engagement ring and now it is both. It was only as we were paying for it that my now husband said  "I haven't actually asked you yet!"

So this is pretty close to the view from the place where he did ask the question. No getting down on one knee here, given that we were probably about 15 metres above the ground on a chair lift. Of course I said yes, and then we had a drink to celebrate. It was a very busy morning. We had achieved all that by 9.15am!

Did someone say yes to a celebratory margarita! Why yes, they did!

But onto the chocolate excursion where we were driven about half an hour away from the port to a small botanical gardens where our chocolate experience was being held. Whilst there we got to see the process from pod, to drying, to grinding, to powder and lastly made our own pieces of chocolate.

Here is the then fiance (!!) holding a chocolate pod. Inside each pod are many beans which are about about 10mm long.

These are removed from the pod and dried naturally.

From there the shells are removed from the beans which are put through a grinder several times. A handy tip was the better you are at removing the shell the less gritty your final product is.

Or you can grind by hand if you so desire (which he did)

Until you end up with a paste

Which then has cocoa butter and sugar added to to make chocolate and is heated

Before being poured into moulds to set.

And our verdict on our very hand made chocolate - it was much darker and more bitter than the chocolate that you buy in the shops here, and a lot grittier, but it was a fun experience to have had on such a momentous day for us.

We finished the day by going back to pick up the now resized ring, a well deserved quick swim and then back to the ship for the rest of the cruise!