So this past week we ( 7 NILIs, 3 staff members, 2 seminary students, and 1 member of a local church) traveled to Santo Domingo for a week of ministry. We knew we were going to be doing a lot of work like painting and working on the foundation of a cistern, but we didn't know we would get to try tons of new fruits one being Cacao. First of all God worked in an amazing way on this trip, preparing hearts and minds for his work and we all came home with a new understanding of what it means to be the body of Christ. And how each part is important and if we work together with Christ as our focus we can complete anything! Everyone on the trip worked really hard and did a great job of working and sharing God's word and love in ministry through song and a drama. You can check out the NILI 9 Everything skit on Youtube, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_QZrIFRdmM
I have also posted lots of pictures on my facebook of our Santo Domingo trip check them out here:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=552442&id=786695077&ref=mf
Ok so now onto the Chocolate, first of all did you know chocolate comes from the Cacao plant? (they tell you that much at Hershey) but did you know it was first known as a fruit and not for the dark sweet goodness known as chocolate. It is a fruit and it's really good. You open the cacao pod and there are these white gooey globs, you put them in your mouth and suck off the sour and sweet white stuff then you are left with a seed...THAT is what turns into chocolate. You have to clean off the seeds and let them ferment then they are dried and toasted then cleaned and ground and then made into paste which then needs to be spun until it is the sweet chocolaty goodness, although it is very bitter. We went on a chocolate tour in Mindo a small town in Ecuador where we learned all about this process...it's not quite like the ride through Hershey's chocolate world with the singing cows and large machines doing the work of making the chocolate. First we saw Cacao growing in it's natural habitat so many times in our travels in Santo Domingo. And we tasted that yummy fruit many times also. Then on the tour in Mindo we walked to what looked like a green house made of plastic and saw where the cacao seeds are fermented and dried. Then we walked to the house where on the roof was the "chocolate factory" with homemade machines to toast, clean, ground, make paste and spin the chocolate. And of course to finish the tour we had a taste test of the bitter chocolate with out sugar and then finally the grand finale of Brownies and either chocolate ice cream or hot chocolate. Again a little better then the one piece of free chocolate you get at the end of the Hershey tour. It was really fun to see the real thing being made, it is quite a long process and even though we brought home some cacao to try to make our own chocolate, I think it is better left to the professionals! And yes it was fun and really good chocolate in the end Hershey's is still the best (gotta stay true to my roots) :) Below are some pictures of the cacao we found while driving and the chocolate tour in Mindo!
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| Me and the Cacao on the tree |
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| From left to right: cacao pod, me eating the fruit, cacao seed |
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| The cacao pod, fruit, seed and toasted chocolate (very bitter) |
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| This is where the Cacao ferments and dries |
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| Cacao fermenting (this makes good chocolate) |
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| Cacao Drying...it's starting to smell like chocolate |
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| This is the Toaster |
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| The seed cleaner |
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| The grinder |
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| This makes chocolate paste |
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| The paste spinning for three days...we're getting close |
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| FINALLY HOT CHOCOLATE AND BROWNIES!!!! YUM! |
