April and May are the months for collecting mature cacao pods here in Belize.  Today, we harvested a whole lot of pods; they come in all shapes and sizes and colours:

Here is a picture of an opened cacao pod:

The white pulp around the seeds is edible and has a sweet aromatic, acidic taste to it.  For the actual chocolate making process, the seeds/beans are fermented with the pulp and dried out in the sun (for up to 7 days).  Fermented cacao beans at this stage are shipped by container loads overseas to be processed into chocolate.

We use cacao in many of our products; one of the main ones is Cacao Absolute which we are know selling as a product in The Apothecary.  We use this essential oil in our soaps, body oils, massage oils and body sprays; for more information on how we make this check out Making Chocolate Essential Oil.

We are collecting the fresh cacao beans to make Elixirs (or liqueurs).  This is a favourite with the chocolate connoisseurs.  This is what it looks like initially:

This is on Day 7; look at the spectacular burgundy hues!

The Cacao Fruit elixir requires time to mellow out and develop the complex layers of taste of cacao fruit and bean.  The beans will be removed soon and thereafter it is left to sit to allow natural sediment to sink down to the bottom.  Every two weeks, the liquid is siphoned into another glass jar so that the sediment can be discarded.  There is a lot of work required in creating clarity in this product.  We will probably make a batch of about 5 gallons of this which will be ready in about 12 months time.  The best things come to those who wait!

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