Found this cacao pod yesterday at a shop in Tulsa. Not quite sure how I'm going to get there (some fermentation is involved), but the endgame is CHOCOLATE!!!! Yum yum. Anyone ever made homemade chocolate? Is that even a thing? @davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social, have you ever done this? #chocolate - ThreadSky

tempestinatankard.bsky.social • 48 days ago

Found this cacao pod yesterday at a shop in Tulsa. Not quite sure how I'm going to get there (some fermentation is involved), but the endgame is CHOCOLATE!!!! Yum yum.

Anyone ever made homemade chocolate? Is that even a thing? @davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social, have you ever done this?

#chocolate

Comments

riversgirl.bsky.social•47 days ago

hi Franz, there’s actually quite a lot of folks who make bean to bar chocolate at home. The youtube “fermentation” videos aren’t actually how it’s done, though. There is a helpful book on small batch cacao fermentation though, called One Cacao Tree by Raven Hanna.

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•47 days ago

Those were my wife's suspicions as well when I mentioned about the stuff on Youtube. For what it's worth, I'm a homebrewer and learned from books (and friends who knew what they were talking about). I'm also learning how to make cheese — from ditto. So thanks for giving me a book rec!

riversgirl.bsky.social•46 days ago

enjoy the new journey!

steven-l-clark.bsky.social•47 days ago

Cacao beer... well, it wouldn't be a beer, but maybe a wine as it comes from fruit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROqbK8nhqEs&list=PLIttdWFgcODx-h6FsoT1sNNAgUIXFUMEg&index=11

oldtiredangr.bsky.social•48 days ago

There are YouTube videos on this subject

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•48 days ago

Quite a few! Looks like I'll need more pods, though ...

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•48 days ago

I figured that. Thought I'd share the photo first and ask folks here what their experience is. 🙂🍻

davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social•48 days ago

It is a thing! This looks to have already dried out though, so you won't be making chocolate out of it, and you'd need more than the seeds of one pod to do it. But it's still super cool decor! If you want to know more about the chocolate-making process, happy to share.

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•48 days ago

Damn. At 10 bux a pop for the pod, that'll be one expensive chocolate bar. This one won't make it to the decoration phase. Gotta see what's inside! Regardless of what becomes of it, I'm still pretty happy we found it. Kinda made my day.

davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yeah, for sure! It's always cool to see them in person. And that price...yeah. When you see the cost of the raw ingredients, you can understand why cheap chocolate is so bad from a human rights/ecology standpoint. I'm glad you found one! Thanks for sharing.

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•48 days ago

Yeah, like so much stuff we casually consume, unfortunately. Have you ever read Sidney W. Mintz's Sweetness and Power? Fascinating look at how sugar went from luxury object to everyday commodity, along with the linkages b/w the history of capitalism and slavery.

davidnilsenbeer.bsky.social•48 days ago

I've seen it, but haven't read it.

byjonnelson.bsky.social•48 days ago

@seamus.bsky.social did https://bsky.app/profile/seamus.bsky.social/post/3lakrb63n7s27

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•48 days ago

Wow! That is soooo cool! Now I gotta figure out how to get more cacao pods, short of growing trees in my house (which, I guess, is also possible -- we've got a couple citrus trees on the go in our living room).

corvikcorax.bsky.social•48 days ago

I know I’ve seen some folks do it on YouTube with some success. I know it’s viable but definitely one of those things that I’m baffled how humans figured out 😂

tempestinatankard.bsky.social•48 days ago

I know, eh? I get that humans probably banged everything open with rocks to see what was inside, but to get from there to fermenting the seeds, roasting them, grinding them, etc.? Or coffee: it starts life as a "cherry" that conceals the bean, which is also fermented before it's dried. Cool stuff!

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