Article first published on my personal blog at HIVE.
In a corner of my backyard, a cocoa plant grows majestically and silently. It grew on its own and, without care, stands tall with its large, shiny leaves, towering above the other fruit trees. Year after year, its fruits adorn its branches with their peculiar shape and rough texture.
Gold in Seed
It is impossible not to contemplate its yellow fruits and travel back in time. I imagine myself in the time of the Aztecs, when the grains of this plant were used as currency. It is incredible how a whole society was formed and forged around its seed. Markets full of people exchanging the fruit for precious goods come into my mind.
Trying to make Chocolate
Trying to extract chocolate from these seeds in an artisanal way is quite a challenge. From planting the plant, which although after it grows large requires little care, its early stages are a challenge. To get to a good product, it is a sowing and harvesting of love.
We go through several failed attempts to obtain a consumable product. The process is slow and can be ruined in a single day. Carefully extracting the seeds and pulp, leaving them to ferment, the long days of drying, can be a huge challenge.
One of the most interesting experiences was preparing Xocolatl, a drink from the nibs (the unprocessed seed), which the Aztecs drank. Even today, we don't know if we prepared it properly, but its bitter and spicy taste was not unpleasant at all.
Chocolate, in order to reach its destination and look as we commonly know it, has to travel a long way. More than a delicious sweet, it is a product of nature and mankind's experience and experimentation.
Getting up close and personal with such an ancient and artisanal process gives a totally different view of nature and humanity. So, if someday you have the opportunity to visit a cocoa plantation, think about all that the fruit has gone through to get there.
If you have made it this far, thank you very much for reading me. Your support means a lot to me and I would be very happy to read you in the comments. Until next time and my best wishes for joy and success. I'll be reading you.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
I apologize if there are any grammatical errors, English is not my native language, I have tried to be as careful as possible.
I regularly create images on Pixabay, which are free of copyright. Access my gallery by clicking here.
All assets, illustrations and banners have been created by me and are original content, unless otherwise specified.
Information: Description - Two Mixtec Kings drinking and giving the cacao liquor, Source - http://www.mexicolore.co.uk, Date - 2005, Author - Mat Jones, Permission - GNU, Other versions - , Note - It's only a fragment of the scan in a Mexican Codex, it doesn't have copyright.
All the other photos taken with my mobile phone and edited using the mobile version of Lightroom.
Cover made in Canvas
