After two flights, seven hours drive across the Andes, and another hour drive from "Basetown", we have finally arrived in the Marañón Valley. It is so lush and beautiful here - the perfect setting for the rarest chocolate in the world.
On the road to see the farm of Noe Vasquez, our first cacao farmer.
Waiting for everyone to arrive on Noe's farm - left to right: Chip Tautkus, owner of Chubby Chipmunk Chocolates, Dan Pearson, president of Marañón Chocolate, Seth Tautkus, Chip's son and business manager, and Shelly Shinjo, my adventurous wife.
Noe Vasquez addresses the enthusiastic crowd of international chocolatiers and local farmers who have come to learn about cacao growing and harvesting.
Chip and Noe. Check out what Chip has created with Chubby Chipmunk Chocolates. She is the reason that Shelly and I are here.
Chip's website:
http://www.chubbychipmunk.com
One of Noe's beautiful cacao groves.
Here is a cacao pod, about eight inches long. Depending on the variety, they can range from yellow to orange to red in color. In many cases they will grow directly from the trunk.
After exploring the cacao groves, it was time to cool off in the shade of some coconut trees. Did I mention that it was kind of hot and humid here in the jungle?
As we all look on, Noe plucks a coconut from high up in the tree canopy. He uses a long bamboo pole with a special blade at the end to cut the coconut loose.
Brian tries his hand at snagging a coconut.
Slicing his way through the coconut, Noe uses a machete to prepare nature's most refreshing beverage.
Shelly quenches her thirst on sweet coconut water.
Pearsonberg (more on that later) before the shoe fiasco (more on that later too).
Rosie's job is to keep everyone laughing and to see the world through a seven year old perspective. We become fast friends, co-creating a variation of "Rock, Paper, Scissors" we name "Coconut, Machete, Bagpipe".
Chip & Dan - sounds like a couple of cartoon characters I know.
A cacao family portrait. There are a few gasps of amazement when I shoot 10 frames in rapid succession to create this panorama.
"Don't you make me come over there and mess you up", Red said, contemplating his next cockfight.
Isn't he just the cutest ball of fur you ever did see?
Too bad he's on the lunch menu. (Kids, hide your eyes now.)
Aww.... yum!
Here is one of Noe's sons, Max, trying to act normal, despite all the strange camera-wielding gringos wandering around his home today. By the way, the structure in the foreground is the kitchen, constructed from narrow tree trunks, which allow for ventilation while cooking.
Freddie Gower, a chocolatier from Scotland, looks on as Noe's wife, Socorro cooks a hearty meal of rice, chicken and cui (guinea pig) over a wood fire stove for all of us hungry foreigners.
Here is some fancy juggling of the mysterious "GLORIA" ingredient. A true enigma, with a cap at both the top and bottom of the container.
In the blue shirt is Norbil, Noe's younger brother who also works for Brian in the cacao project. On the left is Noe's Aunt. Brian just calls her "Señora". She is preparing a delicious dish of sweet fermented onions.
Scott, Chip and Shelly, just after lunch. After seeing those cute little critters I was the only one to abstain from cui. Happy and fed, we are starting to feel okay in our sweatiness.
Noe with his three sons, Freddy, Max and Vic.
As Shelly works on her novel, Noe's wife shells cacao beans for a chocolate drink she is preparing for later. She asks Shelly how long we have been married. It has been twenty-two years. "And no children?" She insists that we had better get busy!
After visiting Noe's farm, Brian shows us how the cacao beans get processed. They are first bagged and trucked to his facility.
Next, the beans are emptied into wooden bins called "juicers". The weight of the beans pressing up against the sides of the juicer releases all the water content from the white pulp surrounding the beans. This liquid seeps out of the holes in the sides of the bin. Tiles at the base of the bin catch the liquid, which collects into a bucket.
Dan Pearson salivates as Ali Gower, a chocolatier from Scotland samples the sweet nectar. I feel very privileged to be able to taste this rare cacao juice, as fresh as you can get it. It's absolutely delicious! Here is the website for The Chocolate Tree, Ali and Freddie Gower's chocolate company in Scotland. Their chocolate is superb!
http://www.choctree.co.uk/
Further along in the process, the "undesirable" beans are sorted into the red basket. Don't ask me how these guys determine the good from the bad, but I trust they know what they're doing.
Next, the beans are fermented for 5-7 days inside covered wooden bins. They give off a pungent vinegar smell, which fills the whole room. Every day all the beans are emptied into a large trough where they are mixed and randomized to insure uniformity.
The last step in the process is the drying phase. The beans are laid out on several enormous tables lined with permeable fabric. The beans are allowed to air dry outdoors for 5 days. There is also an additional weeding out of the marginal beans, which are used for lower quality chocolate products. When the beans have reached the proper state of dryness they are bagged and shipped to customers around the world to be made into chocolate.
Rosie is working hard at her new job as a low-grade industrial cacao quality control technician. (LGICQCT for short.)