debandfredseeingtheworld: From the Cacao Farm to Chocolate Bar & the Maya Museum

We were up early on Tuesday to catch the Chicken bus to the Maya centre with Hermalindo, the bartender at our restaurant. He arranged our tours to the cacao farm and chocolate factory along with the Maya Museum. When we arrived, one of the cacao farmers was there to walk us out to his farm. We saw the cacao trees and the cacao pods growing on the main trunk of the trees instead of on the branches. The farmer told us only 10% of the blossoms produce a fruit. They try very hard to keep the trees pruned so that any diseased branches are cut off and to make it easier to reach the pods as harvesting is all done by hand. Woodpeckers and squirrels cause the biggest damage to the pods. Can't blame them...who doesn't like chocolate??? They harvest 8 - 10 times as the pods don't all ripen at the same time. They crack the pods open right in the field and collect the seeds from inside the pods. These seeds are then taken to a drying area, which is like a greenhouse, spread out and left to dry for 12 days. During the 12 days they are turned or rolled daily so that the seeds are evenly dried. Once the are dried they are shelled and the nibs are used to produce the chocolate. The shells are also ground into fine powder to produce cocoa, hit chocolate, and tea. We were able to see both the original or Mayan way (using the gring stone), and the more modern way (using a machine) to make the chocolate. Basically the nibs are crushed into a liquid form (nibs contain 60%oil). Now depending on the kind of chocolate you desire, milk or dark, is when the other ingredients are added. This process, done in the machine, takes about 20 hours, then the chocolate is ready to be put in molds and dried for about another 2 hours. Then it is packaged and ready to be sold. They are still a small operation but would like to expand getting larger equipment thus able to increase the chocolate making. It was a very interesting tour. We were given our samples we helped make, we knew it wouldn't last long in the heat so we got busy and enjoyed them before it turned back into liquid. Mmmmmmmm.

The Maya Center

Walking through an orange grove to get to the cacao farm.

Cacao tree

Cacao pod

Cacao farm

Who got here first...a woodpecker or squirrel?

Cacao seeds

Drying the cacao seeds.

Crushing the nibs into a liquid form.

Chocolate

Next we moved to the Maya Museum where they are trying to replicate an original Mayan home. They had musical instruments, pots and cook ware, a typical bed for adults and children along with a cloth used to carry the baby or hang the baby in to sleep, a hammock, traps, a sugarcane press, different women's clothes on display and a typical stove used. The fire was going in the stove and we were then shown how to make corn tortillas. I tried my hand at making one and it is harder than it looks, takes practise. We enjoyed sampling them, very tasty indeed.

That was our morning...very interesting. The Mayan people want to keep their culture alive but are finding is is being last as their young people are leaving the villages to find work and are not returning.

Maya Center