Jason and I are both Capricorns; is this why we are both chocoholics? Maybe. Or maybe it is because we are both really, really smart, we have great taste and, well, chocolate kind of speaks for itself.

When we discovered that we could go visit an actual chocolate plantation, we were first in line. Literally. We were there at 9:00am before anybody else. I guess we weren’t going to take the chance that they might run out of samples…LOL.

Our guide took us through a small portion of the plantation where we got to learn all about the process of growing cacao and caring for the trees. Did you know that the pods grow on the trunk of the trees? And that they harvest 30-40 pods twice a year from each tree? We didn’t. But by the end of this part of the tour, we were successfully able to choose 2 perfect pods. Yep. We follow directions well.

After cracking them open, we tasted the fruit inside for the first time. Wow! Not at all what we expected. The sweet and juicy pulp covered each bean individually. As we continued out tour we got to suck on the fruit and even eat the raw beans which were a little bit bitter, but had the inkling of the chocolate they were about to become.

Which brings us to the apex of this tour – we got to make our own chocolate! We peeled the skin off the roasted cacao beans, mixed them with a tiny bit of sugar and an even tinier bit of cinnamon then cranked the mixture through a grinder. Voila – fresh 85% chocolate. When we get back home, we’ll be just in time for winter with our hot chocolate mix. Just need to add hot milk. (I’d say I can’t wait, but…well, I’m not quite ready for winter.)

As a parting gift, we got a cup of melted chocolate from the factory (it was given to us on the sly, so I think it was actually an added bonus) that was so delicious. We ended up stopping at a roadside stand to buy bananas to dip into it. Road fondue!!