Seeing that is February, and that chocolate will soon rain from the sky on Feb. 14, I have a story I’ve been meaning to tell you. It involves a journey to Central America, a magnificent thunderstorm deep in the jungle, the prehistoric roar of howler monkeys, a tree house, a giant Wolf spider, cave diving, oppressive jungle heat, and chocolate – lots and lots of chocolate.
But I am getting ahead of myself.
The story actually begins in a snowy industrial section of Boston on a December day when my friend Jessica and I decided to take a tour of a chocolate factory.
Now, there are no golden tickets in this story but there was a brochure that gray and miserable afternoon that promised adventure, and warmth, and a week of chocolate in a place called the Cotton Tree Lodge near Punta Gorda, Belize.
Yes.
Taza Chocolate in Somerville, Mass., makes stone-ground artisan chocolate. Its flavors are so rich and gritty with bright acidic high notes that a square or two is completely interesting and satisfying. But what makes Taza Chocolate special is its socially responsible approach to chocolatemaking. Their factory has almost no waste. Its founders personally know the farmers who grew their cacao beans, they have slept on the mud floors of their homes, and walked their jungle farms.
That’s what makes fair trade chocolate extraordinary – all the stuff you can’t see. Taza’s beans are grown in the Dominican Republic by local growers organized into cooperatives. The business is financially and environmentally stable and community-oriented. Basically, no mean people or practices are involved. It’s stone-ground chocolate that has a heart and mind.
The people running Taza are all young, happy, and eco-alert. They even sell hip T-shirts alongside their chocolate products. They are self-proclaimed chocolate geeks immersed in the Oaxacan treatment of chocolate. The whole package is pretty impressive.
And yet the tour that gloomy day in Taza’s factory was no Willy Wonka experience. It was crowded and the highlight was watching an old Italian-made cacao bean grinder painted fire engine red do its work.
But the brochure enticing one to attend Chocolate Week at the Cotton Tree Lodge to learn where chocolate comes from did stoke the embers of my imagination. I imagined streets paved in dark chocolate where everyone was happy and warm and far away from the hustle and edge of a cold city. A place where I would become mellow and come back with a tan.
Sure enough, in just a few months I would catch my first glimpse of the rain forest from a jungle plane as it swooped in low to land in Punta Gorda, Belize.
Related posts: The Jungle House at Cotton Tree Lodge, Where does Chocolate come from? Eladio Pop’s jungle farm, Traditional Mayan chocolate drink.
Kitchen Report 
Ohhh, excited for the next installment! :o)
I feel like I was there. Oh wait….
Just wait until I post the Jungle House video …
I’ve got a few of those out-the-plane-window shots of Belize, too! I already love the adventure of this story, and I haven’t even read part two yet!
Really?? When were you in Belize? What part?
Kendra,
Your recent chocolate posts have inspired me to share with my recent chocolate adventure. On Saturday night, my friends invited me to a Valentine’s dessert party, complete with a bake off. I don’t like competition, but I like to win. What I usually do is lay low in the background and slowly make progress forward and sometimes come out with a win. I couldn’t think of what to make, but then on my way to work last week, I was reading the Washington Post Express. Just before I got to the Sudoku in the back, I came upon a page of all things chocolate including a recipe was for haute chocolate. It looked delicious and simple, right then I decided I would enter the dessert competition in my own category: Hot Chocolate.
After most of the desserts were consumed, it was time to start making the hot chocolate. The milk took forever to simmer. It turns out 1 gallon of milk, is A LOT! I got fresh nutmeg and cinnamon from my local organic market which is KEY. And, I used all dark chocolate.
About an hour later, we were all sipping this rich chocolate beverage, absolute heaven. This is the creamiest, richest and most delicious hot chocolate ever! If you choose to go for it, you may want to cut the recipe in half, use 1 or 2% milk and if you don’t have a hand held immersion blender, strain the liquid before serving.
Buzz’s Base Hot Chocolate from ACKC an amazing chocolate restaurant in DC (1529C 14th St. NW)
12 ounces dark chocolate
4 ounces milk chocolate
8 ounces granulated sugar
1 gallon milk
2 tsp cinnamon powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
• Combine both chocolates and vanilla extract into a large bowl and set aside.
• Place milk, sugar, salt and spices in a pot and bring to a gentle simmer.
• Pour the simmering milk over the chocolate and vanilla. Allow to sit two minutes to soften the chocolate. Using a whisk or handheld immersion blender, mix until smooth.
• Serve immediately or refrigerate up to one week and reheat as needed.
Take me to the chocolate factory!
Ashley
[…] almost didn’t go. Even though the thought of spending Chocolate Week at Cotton Tree Lodge in Punta Gorda, Belieze, sounded like a home run as a vacation adventure it was a lot of money and […]
[…] almost didn’t go. Even though the thought of spending Chocolate Week at Cotton Tree Lodge in Punta Gorda, Belieze, sounded like a home run as a vacation adventure it was a lot of money and […]
[…] almost didn’t go. Even though the thought of spending Chocolate Week at Cotton Tree Lodge in Punta Gorda, Belieze, sounded like a home run as a vacation adventure it was a lot of money and […]
[…] almost didn’t go. Even though the thought of spending Chocolate Week at Cotton Tree Lodge in Punta Gorda, Belieze, sounded like a home run as a vacation adventure it was a lot of money and […]
[…] almost didn’t go. Even though the thought of spending Chocolate Week at Cotton Tree Lodge in Punta Gorda, Belieze, sounded like a home run as a vacation adventure it was a lot of money and […]