Mexico to Brazil

Today we learned about chocolate!

The roots of the company we visited are Maya, for whom chocolate was an important part of rituals and celebrations and very different from the palm oil/sugar rich product we are used to from home. We learned about the process of fermentation and roasting before making traditional Maya hot chocolate drink from the roast beans. These are ground to a paste, mixed with hot water and a little honey and chilli and cinnamon. They have been making chocolate this way since 1000 BC!

The farming cooperative exports beans to Europe. For me, part of travelling is learning about other cultures and traditions and the impact of our actions at home on others. We asked what we, as western consumers, could do to have the most positive impact on the cacao farmers. The answer was to eat chocolate with a high cocoa chocolate, 70% or more.

Did you know, the name of the company ‘Green and Black’s’ was inspired by Maya chocolate - in Maya tradition they knew where to plant a cacao tree if they found Black soil they planted a cacao bean and if in one week they had a Green shoot appear then it was the spot.Read more