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Friday, January 6, 2012

Cacao

young cacao pod
Our first stop in Belize, and something I was definitely excited about, was Punta Gorda, in the cacao-growing area of Toledo.  There is a considerable Mayan population there now (probably the biggest proportion of the population of any region of Belize), but of course there were many more back in the day.  Cacao was incredibly important to the Ancient Maya - they used it as currency.  After the mysterious Mayan collapse it seems like cacao in the region went a bit underground, with Mayan communities continuing to grow it and to drink hot cacao on special occasions, but little or no trade.

nearly-mature cacao pod
 Then Hershey's came along and imported their hybrid cacao plants and grew them in Belize during the American years (I was surprised they actually put cacao in their sick-flavoured 'chocolate').  And now there are three or four small-scale producers, placing an emphasis on maintaining the connections between farmers, chocolate manufacturers and consumers.  Near PG there is Cotton Tree Lodge (owned by Americans), and Cyrila's (owned by an entrepreneurial, local, Mayan family).  We took a tour of Cyrila's farm and they showed us the process of making chocolate, as well as letting us taste everything from the raw pods through roasted beans to hot cacao, cacao wine and finally chocolate.  The roasted beans were especially wonderful, and watching them turn into chocolate as you worked the grinder somewhat magical.


I started thinking about the idea that things that grow together taste good together.  I guess chocolate tastes good with about anything, but the flavours they were selling - chili chocolate, coffee chocolate, orange chocolate - seemed like such hard-and-fast, classic combinations...  I brought home some roasted cacao beans / nibs, and wanted to make something good with them.  Inspired by this recipe, I decided to combine the cacao with another crop important in Central America / the Caribbean: lime (where would guacamole or Cuba Libre be without lime?).


Cacao-Lime Cookies

Makes about 16.

1/2 cup fake butter
3/8 cup brown sugar
3/8 cup white sugar
1/2 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 1 1/2 tbsp hot water
1 1/4 tsp fake milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
7/8 cup flour
3/8 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/8 cup cacao nibs
zest of half a lime


Heat the oven to 350F. Beat the butter and sugars until well mixed and light. Mix in the linseed mix, fake milk and vanilla.

Mix with a fork the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add this to the butter mix gradually. Finally, mix in the cocoa nibs and lime zest.

Take small spoonfuls of the dough and roll into one inch sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


These have gone down a bit too well with S already - I intended to take them to Ladies' Drawing Club tomorrow, since the whole cacao aspect of the trip was partly catalysed by meeting Sam (who is currently working at Cotton Tree Lodge) through Andrea - but S has been making good inroads into the cookie pile: maybe I should have made double after all...
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