The local “market” in St. George’s is little more than a Potemkin Village movie set for tourists. We wanted to stock up on raw cacao nibs for the trip (about 10 kilos…more or less 20 lbs.) but the old ladies—with their headscarves and hoop earrings and little woven baskets—at the market wanted 5 EC$ for a tiny little handful. Ridiculous (we are serious cacao consumers, not cruise ship dilettantes looking for souvenirs.)
Kris found a real source of cacao when he was walking across the island…a warehouse in the mountains where they buy, grade, roast and sell the nibs in large quantities, for more realistic prices. Unprocessed cacao nibs were EC$5.00 per pound. We are well-stocked, now. And, as a bonus, walking home with his sack of nibs over his shoulder, he went past a neglected cacao farm, and picked one of the fruit for me to draw. The pulp around the nibs is sweet and also edible, though you have to suck on many of them to get any satisfaction (the pulp’s thin).
Boil roasted nibs with something (like milk) and then strain to get “chocolate-flavoured anything”. Pound them with honey or condensed milk into a coarse paste (Kris does this, eats it with a spoon. The Barbarian. I’m just jealous because I can’t have condensed milk.)
I grind them up and use like I would any ground spice, in curries or sauces (e.g. the Mexican classic, mole Poblano), with chillies, plantains, chicken…
Or you can try making a basic chocolate at home…there are lots of recipes and ideas on the internet. I quickly found this one (but don’t have cocoa butter, to try it out) and it seems like a good place to start.
lovely pictures:)
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Thanks!
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aaawww no prob
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Mmm, nothing like the smell of cacao bubbling away on the stove. My aunt used to make tablea in Bohol. She would send us great big balls of the stuff the size of dalanghita. 🙂
Love reading about your adventures. I miss you. 🙂
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Awesome, how do you make tablea? Kris loves the stuff, he and Henry used to mainline Antonio Pueo.
Hay, miss you too!
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I never had the chance to watch her make it before she passed away, unfortunately. 😦 Hoping to make it out to Bohol one of these days to find out if any of my cousins learned to make it from her.
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OMG, paradise food and amazing experiences. Lovely sketches, cool find on the farm. You and Kris are having wonderful times. I have to watch it with that stuff (migraines, too bad huh? due to the I forget what they’re called in the seed outer skins … tanins, I think). Enjoy! I still have a piece of choc. now and then – no can live without it. No can!
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LOL That’s tragic! But no, no can!
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