Chocolate. One word that excites all your senses. The taste. The smell. Just the sight alone is enough to make my mouth water. And I was going to spend a whole afternoon mastering the skill of chocolate making. Fabulous.
(Cacau beans)
Back in Antigua while killing some time, we decided to partake in a chocolate making workshop. 2 hours of heaven. Pablo (not Pedro, as he kept reminding us) took us through the history of chocolate, starting as food of the gods, literally, through to where it’s at today.
(Pablo, our enthusiastic instructor)
We got to roast and shell our own beans, then drank a bean husk infused tea. Sounds horrible but it was delicious!
(Shelling the roasted beans)
(Hand grinding the beans with a mortar and pestle)
(It takes a LOT of grinding to get this much!)
(Tasting the bean husk tea)
(Adding milk and spices to make hot chocolate – both Mayan style and Spanish style)
(Handmade, thick, frothy, Spanish style hot chocolate)
After roasting and shelling the beans, we then moulded chocolate into whatever shape we wanted. I made dark chocolate with almonds and dark chocolate with coconut.
(The finished product)
Then we spent the evening gorging ourselves with chocolate and red wine….oh Antigua!
(Possibly my new career)
