A must do in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, the Jaguar Rescue Center is home to many different species from the Costa Rican terrain. They have a huge collection of snakes that they are trying to renew their numbers. While poisonous, they still need help as their numbers are dwindling.
A must do in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, the Jaguar Rescue Center is home to many different species from the Costa Rican terrain. Seriously, how can you resist the grin of a baby sloth?!
A must do in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, the Jaguar Rescue Center is home to many different species from the Costa Rican terrain. This big cat (while not a jaguar) is endangered and is being nursed back to health.
The cooked, ground cocoa is then added with condensed milk, sugar, and evaporated milk. The more sugar and milk you put in, the more it becomes milk chocolate. The less you put in it becomes dark chocolate. This is hand mixed and rolled for about 20 minutes and then rolled out to enjoy. It is a wonderful way to finish a chocolate tour in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica.
After being finely ground, the chocolate is then added to a pot and given a quick warming/crisping to bring out the flavors of the cocoa. On this cocoa tour in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica, we were all asked to participate in the making of our chocolate.
After being thoroughly dried the cocoa “beans” are put into the grinder to be ground into a fine powder. The beans at this point are extremely bitter and are considered dark chocolate in its purest form. This chocolate tour in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica really opened my eyes to the process of chocolate making.
After the fruit has fermented and the fruit has fallen off the seeds, they are then placed in a dry place to completely dry out for 7-8 days (depending on the season) before heading onto the next process. In the past this was accelerated by the usage of dryers. Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica is so rich in history and culture.
After the fruit has been removed from the shell it sits and ferments for a few days in a wooden box. This also simultaneously makes a local liquor from the cocoa fruit! Our chocolate tour in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica was by far one of my favorite.
The fruits come out relatively easy. Our chocolate guide in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica demonstrated the skill required to get them all in one go.
The strange and alien cocoa fruit was cracked open to reveal… an inside that surprised me. The white part of the fruit is sour, tangy, and sweet, revealing the seed – or what chocolate is made of. This chocolate tour in Puerto Viejo, Costa Rica blew my mind!