Chocolate

One of my dreams has come true!
On Thursday I went to a chocolate factory and made my own chocolate!!!

As with many things here in Xela (and Guatemala in general), the word 'factory'doesn't quite conjure up the correct image. In fact, this was just a house. We knocked on the door, and when it opened we saw that the 2 downstairs rooms of the house contained a few machines and tables to make chocolate, tortillas and coffee.

We had bought our own cocoa beans, that had been roasted that morning. We had 2 pounds in weight of cocoa beans, and 6 of us to shell them by hand ready for the next stage of the process. This took about an hour. We were then taken into the other room, where an old belt-driven machine hungrily awaited our cocoa beans. Jeremaih pulled down on the satisfying large handle on the wall, and the machine cranked into action, its belt flapping wildly, and somewhat dangerously to anyone that might be standing nearby.

The cocoa beans were quickly converted into a bitter tasting powder. Now for the second grinding. The cocoa powder was gathered up by hand and put back into the top of the machine, this time along with 4 pounds of sugar. The mixture passed through the machine for a second time, and a magnificent sweet chocolatey mixture emerged. The addition of sugar doesn't just make it sweet, but also helps to create a slightly sticky, gloopy texture. Together with the heat caused by the friction of the grinding process, the fourth grinding resulted in a magnificent, melted chocolatey gloop, that was heavenly.

When the chocolate had reached the right texture, we scooped it out of the machine with our hands (utterly covered in chocolate! You can imagine my delight). By this time I was literally tripping on a massive chocolate and sugar high, after having eaten so much! Then we used the heat of our hands to shape the chocolate into moulds, ready for solidification.

The chocolate was ready an hour or so later. Guatemalans use this stuff for drinking chocolate, rather than eating chocolate. It's texture is really different from the chocolate that we're familiar with at home. Nevertheless, it was magnificent, and I was very, very proud! :o)