Chocolate

The city of Coban is nestled among clouds on the edge of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas in the department of Alta Verapaz. Cardamom and Cobanero chili grow in abundance alongside corn, coffee and cocoa. On the northern edge of Alta Verpaz near the Mexican border is Laguna Lachua, a karstic lake in the middle of a national park. It is here that Fundalachua has its headquarters for cocoa purchasing and processing the cocoa we purchase.

Edgar Raul Quezada Aguilar has been the General Manager of Fundalachua for 14 years, and has owned his own farm for 8 years. Fundalachua works with 5 associations in the area to process cocoa for both the commodity market and the specialty cocoa market. The 5 associations are made up of over 140 producers and all of the specialty production is sold to Uncommon Cocoa in the US; a cocoa importing company that is dedicated to transparent trade and decommoditizing the cocoa industry.

The harvest season for cocoa in Alta Verapaz usually extends from November until June. Producers pick cocoa pods when they are ripe and break them open to remove the cocoa seeds which are covered in a sticky sweet mucilage. The pods are broken open rather than cut so as to preserve the shape and integrity of the seeds for proper fermentation, drying and roasting. The mucilage covered seeds are then delivered to Fundalachua where they are fermented in wooden tub type structures before being laid out on drying beds inside of a green house where they are raked for 8-9 days. The process of drying is complete when the seeds reach a moisture content of 7.5 to 8 percent. Each drying bed is measured for its quality based on the consistency of the fermentation. A selection of seeds are cut open and the level of fermentation is evaluated; deciding whether or not it is intended for the specialty or commodity market.

When we receive the cocoa we roast, winnow, refine and form it.

• Roasting the cocoa is similar to how coffee is roasted; the cocoa is roasted in a coffee roaster, but it is done for a longer period of time at lower temps. This allows for the shell of the cocoa to start to the inner portion referred to as the nib. After roasting the beans are cooled and then put through a grinder that cracks the nib allowing for them to be put through a winnower that separates the nibs from the shell based on density. The nibs are then added to a melanger that uses granite stones to slowly grind the nibs down. During this process sugar and a small amount of cocoa butter is added. Once everything has reached a micron level of 10 this “chocolate liquor” is tempered; a process of heating and cooling to crystallize the cocoa butter in the chocolate. In chocolate there are six different crystal forms; these crystals allow for a molecules in the cocoa butter to take on a different shape that influences the texture, aesthetics and taste; a process known as polymorphism. After the chocolate has been tempered it is poured into forms, cooled and then ready to enjoy.