Hello, my name is Araceli Ruvalcaba! I love chocolate, from handfuls of chocolate chips to dark chocolate bars. Last month my husband and I honeymooned in La Fortuna, Costa Rica. We booked a chocolate tour with Don Juan Tours. We went through the entire chocolate-making process, from seeds to the chocolate bar. Danny, our tour guy, took us around the cacao farm, where we got hands-on experience in chocolate making and taste testing.
We began exploring the cacao fruit – cacao seeds begin slimy and encased in a white, sweet, mango-like, fibrous coating, tucked away in a bumpy red-yellow fruit referred to as a pod. Shockingly, in its original state, chocolate is bright purple. Each seed is left to dry, and once thoroughly dried, it is crushed into nibs. Nibs are pure cacao, or in other words, chocolate without any sugar added. It takes five years for a cacao tree to produce fruit. You can make white chocolate, dark chocolate, cocoa powder, and cocoa butter.
We were able to make our own chocolate concoctions using ground nibs and the add-ins of our choosing from powered milk, pepper flakes, salt, sugar, and coarse nibs.
All in all, we had a sweet time here! It makes me appreciate National Chocolate Chip Day even more.
Thank you for reading my honeymoon story! Learn more about myself and my team here.