John from http://www.growingyourgreens.com/ visits Jean Marie Chocolate Farm in Puerto Rico to show you the process by a cacao bean can turn into a chocolate bar.
In this episode, you will learn how a sprouted cacao bean is planted, grows into a seedling tree, is grafted, and then planted in the ground, and then flowers, fruits and how the fruits are harvested and then fermented and shade dried to make cacao beans that are then transformed into chocolate bars.
First, you will learn how the sprouted cacao seeds are germinated and planted to turn into baby cacao trees. You will learn how these cacao trees grow before they are grafted with wood from the best-tasting cultivars of cacao selected for flavor and production.
Next, you will look at the Cacao orchard and see how the trees grow using permaculture principles and how long it takes to grow before it produces flowers and fruit.
You will discover the best way to harvest cacao fruit aka cacao pods off the tree and the traditional way of opening cacao pods using a 2×4 piece of wood.
Next, you will learn about the fermentation and shade drying process used on the farm to cure the cacao into a shelf-stable product with the best flavor.
You will see all the different products that Jean Marie Chocolate Farm produces and can ship to you in the USA including whole raw cacao fruit, shade dried cacao beans, toasted cacao beans, toasted cacao nibs, 100% cacao powder as well as 100% dark chocolate bars.
You will see some of the damage that occurred to this farm in Puerto Rico
Finally, John will interview the farmer Juan about why he started growing chocolate in Puerto Rico and how is starting the Cacao industry back up in Puerto Rico.
Jump to the following parts of this episode:
00:00 Episode Starts
00:35 Third Visit to the farm
01:30 From cacao bean to chocolate bar
02:47 Sprouted Cacao Seed
03:41 Cacao Seedling
04:47 Grafted Cacao Tree
05:13 Baby Cacao Tree
06:24 Pemaculture Regenerative agricluture
06:49 Bugs and Pests don't bother cacao trees
07:45 How the hurricane affects cacao trees
09:26 6-Month-old Cacao Tree from Transplant
10:16 20-Month-old Cacao Tree
10:59 Cacao Flowers
11:20 Cacao Flower to Baby Fruit to Larger Fruit
12:35 Baby Cacao Leaves can be Red!
13:20 How long before you get cacao fruit
14:15 How long can a Cacao Tree Live?
14:25 How to Double Your Harvest of Cacao
15:00 How to harvest cacao fruit properly
16:01 Openening a cacao fruit with a 2×4
16:33 Cacao Fruit
16:40 Buy USA-Grown Cacao Fruit
17:10 Taste testing cacao fruit
18:15 Raw Cacao Beans are Purple
19:20 Fermentation of Cacao
20:25 Shade Drying Cacao Beans
20:39 Buy USA-Grown Whole Cacao Bulk Rate
21:45 Taste Testing Partially Dried Cacao Beans
23:58 Stages of Cacao Beans Drying
24:55 How long it takes to make a Chocolate Bar
26:23 Jean Marie Chocolat Products You Can Buy
26:40 Whole Raw Cacao Fruit Shipped to You
27:30 Raw Shade-Dried Whole Beans
28:19 Toasted Whole Beans
28:52 Toasted Cacao Nibs
29:18 100% Whole Cacao Powder
29:48 55% Whole Cacao Powder & Turbinado Sugar
30:22 100% Dark Chocolate Bars
38:58 60% Dark Chocolate + Sugar
31:28 Baby Grafted Cacao Trees (local only)
31:58 Cacao Fruit Fermented Wine
33:07 Cacao Fruit Made from Clay Soil
33:58 Interview with Farmer Juan Echevarria
34:08 Why did you start to grow cacao?
35:52 How much Food does Puerto Rico Import?
36:48 Why is Cacao from Puerto Rico Better?
40:57 How You Can Adopt a Farmer
43:32 Any Final thoughts on Cacao
45:21 How I recommend you buy Chocolate
After watching this episode, you will learn how you can buy the finest quality cacao fruit and cacao beans from Puerto Rico and support US farmers trying to create resilience for Puerto Rico.
Referenced Episodes:
Original Episode at Jean Marie Chocolat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGhe_0eEFpo
How to Hurricane Proof Your Farm at Jean Marie Chocolat
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJQMIgSxXOs
Watch all GrowingYourGreens Videos at:
https://www.youtube.com/user/growingyourgreens/videos
Subscribe to GrowingYourGreens for more videos:
http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=growingyourgreens
Follow John on Instagram at:
https://instagram.com/growingyourgreens/
Buy My Ebook with Garden Fresh Recipes for Better Health http://www.payhip.com/gyg
Contact Jean Marie Chocolate Farm at:
http://www.jeanmariechocolat.com/
Buy Fresh Picked Cacao Fruit Shipped to Your Door
https://jeanmariechocolat.com/products/
Adopt a Cacao Farmer in Puerto Rico
https://jeanmariechocolat.com/donations/
