It is that time of the year to make soap. This time we have decided to go for the Chocolate Swirls (and blobs) with clay from the Bladen area.
Clays of Bladen.
The clay comes in different colours: reds, pinks, purples, yellows and whites. It is really quite beautiful to go to the Bladen area to ogle at the colours but once you step out of the car to start digging, that’s a different story…the usual hot, sweaty work!
Lovely Colour:
Raw Clay.
Gnome is the designated digger of clay:
Clay Digging in Belize.
We finally got the chance to use the soap-cutter which was presented to us as a gift from our friends, Erin and Jim. In simple words, Jim can make things and put them together…a bit of gnomishness there methinks. Anyway, when he heard that Gnome was cutting each single soap with wire (like cheese) he set himself the task of making a soap-cutter for us. Oh, and we are soooo pleased…it does the job and eases our pain and sweat!! This is Great. Thank-you Erin and Jim for this wonderful gift!!
Soap Cutter.
And this is what we have been making:
Clay Swirls.Chocolate Soaps.More Soaps.Clay and Chocolate Swirls.
Well, Hello there, here is another update from Munchkin and Gnome. You see, I feel a bit sheepish because I forgot my camera for the Choc Fest (well, you know…there was so much stuff to pack into boxes, packed lunch and icy water…the camera was the last thing on my mind). Firstly, thanks to Alisa Atkinson and Tati for sharing the booth with us this year. We had a great time stuffing ourselves with their croissants and muffins and enjoyed their company very much.
This year, the fair was set up a bit differently since the town council were organising it. The stalls were packed on both sides of Front Street . Most of the stalls were not designated and so in the morning, it was first come, first served. Luckily, we found a place with a breeze from the sea so that helped with the dry season heat. As Gnome has said in the past:
“…Cacao Fest is always the hottest day of the year!!”
The fair started at 9am and ran on until 5pm (Saturday). The Wine and Chocolate was Saturday night instead of Friday this year. Because of this timing difference, we thought that the morning crowd was smaller; it was mostly made up of incidental tourists and Punta Gorda locals.
One thing happened that was really quite funny (maybe not funny for the people involved!!). I hope that I can describe it well so that it makes up for the lack of photographs. Late in the morning, three young Belizean girls came up to our stall dolled up to the nines with cute little skirts and heels. They were ooohing and ahhhing…at first I thought that they were complimenting us on our chocolate soaps…but, then it actually sounded like whining. Their beautiful bare legs were covered in bug bites and all three of them in unison stared woefully down at their bitten legs and then looked at the glowing container of “Copal Ointment for rash and itch.”
They pointed at that tin and uttered in feeble tones:
“…we want that…”
As soon as they received the Copal Ointment, they whipped the top open and dug right into the container…each one of them desperate to calm the itch on their legs. Oh, the poor girls!! There was more oooohing and ahhhing in front of me but this time I sensed more of a relief in their tone. Crisis over, they thanked me and went on their way. Afterwards, Gnome said to me:
“…that was perfect advertising for us…a shame we couldn’t get a picture!!”
Copal Medicinal Ointment.
We left the fair early afternoon to go home for a rest before attending the Wine and Chocolate. Yes, we did go this year…
(Incidentally, we were both at the the Very First Cacao Fest 2005. I ended up the kitchen cooking all night and Gnome got roped into pouring wine. That’s another story for another day!! But, never again!!)
It was nice to get out and get dressed up. It is certainly quite a job to try to get out of the farm without covering your good clothes in sticky burrs and mud. Nonetheless, we managed with a few passing pecks from the geese of course!! Much wine was drunk and we had a good evening together socialising. Good to get out once in a while…
Hello Guys. There will be a rare sighting of Munchkin and Gnome in public (it’s a once a year thing) at the Choc Fest. They have no idea where they are located but will be selling their usual wares: Copal stuff, medicinal products and chocolate stuff of course! If it’s rainy, you might spot them with their wellies. Otherwise, Gnome looks like a well-dressed Gnome and Munchkin is usually more casually dressed with a hat. Is that enough to go on? Anyway, hope to see you there!!
Back to the grind for Munchkin & Gnome as we resume our farm activities…yes, we are disappearing into the woodwork again!! So, the Chocolate Festival was our chance to see everyone and it was good to see some “old faces.” Thank-you everyone for all your continued support and we are glad that we continue to survive (and thrive) in this environment. A special thanks to Alisa Atkinson and Tati for sharing a stall with us; it was a lot more fun this year with the jolly good company! See y’all again next year!!
See you today at Chocolate Festival 2017. Munchkin and Gnome (aka Casa Mascia Apothecary) will be found somewhere near the Cotton Tree Chocolate Factory selling their wares. We’ll have chocolate soaps, chocolate body scrub, copal products and lots of other goodies. Come and see us because we are taking this time to socialise and talk to people!! Otherwise you won’t see us for another year!! Come early-ish!!
Our Christmas delivery will be on Wednesday the 21st of December. For anyone living in Punta Gorda, orders will be hand-delivered by Munchkin Fairy & Gnome Fairy. For the rest of Belize, goods will be sent by Tropic Air.
Chocolate Artisan Soaps.
Everything is hand-made by Munchkin & Gnome, with care, love and attention on our Farm. We’ve got all sorts of lovely stuff including chocolate and medicinal soaps, massage oils, chocolate lip balms and lots more. You can either order through the website or email us with your order on info@casamascia.com.
Ooooh…look at that…stacks of Chocolate Artisan Soaps. We are getting ready for the new season with our lovely soaps made from Toledo Cacao and coconut oil. Here is a gallery of some of our chocolate offerings made by Gnome, the budding artist!
The Artist Known as Gnome.
These are brand new for the season: White Chocolate Mint Soap….smells delicious…you’d think you could eat them!!
White Chocolate Mint Soaps.
Artisan Chocolate Soaps…these are the swirly ones….
Chocolate Artisan Soaps.Chocolate Artisan Soaps.
Oh…and of course….100% Doggy Approval…this one tries to grab and eat them!!
We started making soap because we were both fed up with the quality of shop-bought soap. The bars that we bought were a funny pink colour with an artificial rose scent. We didn’t think much of the well-known brands either because they all smelled of unnatural fragrances and dried out the skin. And so we decided to embark on the making of our own soap…at that time we did not have Internet on the farm and had to conduct our research at the Internet Cafe in town.
Our purpose was to make a good soap for us to use instead of having the buy the poor quality supermarket stuff. The properties that we sought for in our home-made soap was a good lather and a moisturising bar with natural scent.
Generally speaking, soap is made from oil/fat and lye. The oil/fat lends the qualities and properties to a soap bar and so we started off by experimenting with anything that we could find off the supermarket shelf. We tried everything from shortening, to lard and a whole plethora of vegetable oils.
These attempts were a great learning experience: shortening was actually okay but the lard soap actually smelled quite piggy!! We came out of the shower smelling like we had smothered ourselves in bacon!! The vegetable oil made a soft moisturising bar but disintegrated very quickly into bits.
At the time, we were also making coconut oil and selling it to the lady at Punta Gorda market. It was a slow, laborious process of grating, boiling and stirring. We spent many full days setting up a fire (with coconut husks) and stirring our pot of coconut oil together under the shade of the coconut palms. It was a very significant time, when we tried to seek meaning in our lives, after extricating ourselves from the rushing urgency and pressures of our previous lives as medical doctors.
I remember making a test batch of coconut oil soaps and eagerly waiting for the results. When soap is made in this way ie. not commercially, the soap needs time to “cure” and this can take anything from 3 months or longer. The longer you wait, the better…it is like a fine wine. Anyway, after waiting 3 months, we tried this soap and discovered that it had all the properties that we were looking far. It lathered well, did not dry out the skin and the natural scent was lovely. The skin felt so clean and smooth.
This was the perfect recipe and we were using our own coconuts from the farm!
Our Lovely Coconuts.
Our soaps are still made from this original coconut oil recipe. In addition to this, we have created Medicinal Soaps and Chocolate Soaps.
Hey guys, we have been compiling a whole bunch of new product pictures for the online apothecary (it is coming soon!!). We don’t have any photography studios in Toledo (Belize) or for that matter, in the middle of the jungle, where we live, so we had to come up with a “light box” made out of a cardboard box and table lamps. Check this out:
Light Box For Taking Photographs In The Jungle.
Here are some nice pictures of our New Chocolate Artisan Soaps. These ones are our Dark Chocolate Range. The dark violet hues of the cacao have come out really well in the light box! 🙂
Dark Chocolate Soaps.Dark Chocolate Artisan Soaps.
We’re back again with The Brand New Munchkin and Gnome Adventures!! Let’s start with a yummy recipe; These are Cacao Butter Cinnamon Buns:
Cacao Butter Cinnamon Buns.
The cacao butter gives a rich and velvety texture and the chocolate flavour seeps through to give a unique experience to the ubiquitous cinnamon bun. What a treat!!
