{"id":2363,"date":"2012-07-11T07:23:48","date_gmt":"2012-07-11T12:23:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gastronomyatbu.wordpress.com\/?p=2363"},"modified":"2018-03-28T17:53:11","modified_gmt":"2018-03-28T21:53:11","slug":"photo-essay-a-chocolate-maker-journeys-to-the-cacao-source","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/2012\/07\/11\/photo-essay-a-chocolate-maker-journeys-to-the-cacao-source\/","title":{"rendered":"Photo Essay: A Chocolate Maker Journeys to the Cacao Source"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Lucia Austria<\/p>\n

This past April, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Dominican Republic to learn how cacao beans are produced, thanks to my employer, Taza Chocolate<\/a>. Taza prides itself on being a \u201cbean to bar\u201d company, so I associate the smell of \u201cfarm\u201d and \u201ccacao\u201d with the kilo sacks of dried beans we store in the factory, ready to be roasted, ground, and made into chocolate. I never thought I\u2019d have the chance to visit the cacao farm and fermentery where our beans are from!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned that it takes a lot of time, labor, and love to produce cacao beans for chocolate consumption. The farmer gives much care to his trees, which require ample moisture and shade from the hot tropical sun. The pods are also prone to fungal blights, so constant attention is necessary. Within each pod are the beans, surrounded by sweet, delicious flesh called \u201cbaba.\u201d The beans themselves are bitter and require a week of fermentation to bring out the fruity notes of each bean. I visited Taza\u2019s main source for fermented beans, a small cooperative called La Red Guaconejo<\/a>, just outside of the town of Nagua. The fermenter\u2019s attention and skill to the process is crucial to developing the right bacteria to bring out the beans\u2019 flavors. They are then dried on large outdoor beds, packed, and shipped right to Somerville, MA.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Welcome to the Dominican Republic!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Theobroma Cacao seedling<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Baby cacao pod<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Adult cacao tree<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cacao variety<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cacao variety<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cacao variety<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Fleshy, white \u201cbaba\u201d around the beans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Nagua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
La Red Guacanejo<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Start of the fermentation process<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Cascade fermentation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Box of fermenting beans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
The baba contributes to the fermentation<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Drying beds, waiting for more beans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"\"<\/a>
Sacks of dried beans<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nLucia is a current Gastronomy student and program graduate assistant. She \u00a0joined Taza Chocolate in February 2011 and is now a Production Assistant.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Lucia Austria This past April, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the Dominican Republic to learn how cacao beans are produced, thanks to my employer, Taza Chocolate. Taza prides itself on being a \u201cbean to bar\u201d company, so I associate the smell of \u201cfarm\u201d and \u201ccacao\u201d with the kilo sacks of dried beans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14625,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14625"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8444,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2363\/revisions\/8444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}