South Caribbean Adventures: The CHOCORART Chocolate Tour (Part 1)

How's everybody doing today? Hope you all had a great day yesterday (Valentine's Day)! Have you been enjoying my posts about our Caribbean adventures (click here, here, here)? I hope so! I know you will like this one. Before we go into the dreamy world of cacao & chocolates... I want to remind you all about the GNOWFGLINS Fundamentals eCourse, which closes enrollment on the 22nd of Feb. and also... if you haven't... check this out!

For this post… I asked my father-in-law, Dave, if he would like to write it up because there was so much to share, but I was way too busy taking pictures to really pay attention to everything that was being said. Plus, when I did pay attention… it was hard to understand the man because of his Swiss accent. So, I am going to tell you all about it through pictures while Dave shares through words!

Speaking of pictures... I have TOO many to decide what to share with you that I've decided to do another post with just pictures and a few words here & there. I will share some here, but will be sharing more on the next post! UPDATE: More pictures here!!

All I need to say about this place is… awesome, beautiful, wild and I am spoiled for life because you can't find chocolate with all that delicious buttery fat anywhere!

Oh man! I really want some right now with coconuts or cacao nibs!

WARNING: You will find yourself very hungry for some REAL, buttery fat chocolates  :o)

The CHOCORART Chocolate Tour

By David Beard

A chocolate tour in Costa Rica! Believe me this is no trip to Wonka World with umpah lumpas and crazy machinery…. No, a trip to Chocorart is a step back into a mom and pop size cacao plantation and chocolate making enterprise.

Chocorart is located 4 miles from Puerto Viejo on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica. A Swiss couple, Marcos and Claudia have handled the operation of the chocolate production themselves for the last 20 years. The tour is definitely an up close and personal look at how chocolate is made from tree to treat.

Marcos and Claudia at work making their chocolates.

Our little adventure started with a short bicycle ride from our cabin. A small group of about 15 of us had our choice of narration in Spanish, English, French or German. English was common to all and Marcos led us along a path through the jungle. Yes, jungle and no manicured rows of cacao trees with machines to harvest. We walked through the rain forest as Marcos gave us a history of the dreaded fungus that still attacks tress and fruit today. With his trusty machete he show us termites, carpenter ants, poison dart frogs and pointed out several species of plants (i.e. ginger, lemon grass, peppercorn) all sharing the rainforest with cacao trees.

Well, back to cacao plants. The ripened fruit, when opened, reveals 20 to 30 seeds cover with a slimy white pulp that is delicious to eat; in fact this is how the cacao plant was first used until the Mayan Indians took the seed and started making a chocolate drink. Harvest time for most cacao is from September through December. But Marcos found a few cacaos to harvest and left them beside the path to pick up later with a wheel barrel. (Pretty high tech right?!)

The Chocorart operation is all organic, using only compost to fertilize young plants and no insecticides. The forest has a mix of huge 60 foot trees providing a mixed canopy affect along with 400 or so smaller cacao trees and many other plants. The cacao plants flourish in a 50% sun 50% shade type of environment, usually at 1000 to 1500 feet above sea level and plenty of moisture.

The tall trees on the cacao plantation... over 60 feet!

Next, the secret to infusing flavor and changing the bitterness of the cacao seed comes from the fermentation process. For six days the sweet pulped laden seeds are allowed to ferment then laid in the sun to dry for about a week. Once dried the reddish brown nut is ready to be roasted or in some cases exported to other chocolate making companies.

Once roasted Marcos used a large rock to crack the seeds and separated the shells from the chocolate by letting the wind blow the shells away as the chocolate drops into a bowl. Next, the chocolate is ground up, mixed with cane sugar and cooked into a rich brown, delicious, spoonable syrup to enjoy. As it hardens, flavor can be added and then shaped into cigar size treats that Chocorart distributes locally. Marcos explains that once the bean is ground many companies extract the cocoa butter to be sold to cosmetic companies and replace it with other oils. Now that is other companies----not Chocorart --- you get the natural cacao butter and experience the rich flavor of semi sweet organic chocolate.

After the tour they served up delicious, rich hot chocolate and we left the place wearing chocolate moustaches. We also purchased plenty of chocolates to keep us happy for several weeks. We will remember this tour for a long time... how can we not?! We will never look at our standard chocolate bar the same way again.

Flavors: Plain, Coconut**, Coffee, Crunchy (Cocoa Nibs)**, Mint, Ginger**, Peanuts**, Orange & Vanilla**

(**Mare's favorites)

This is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted this week @ Cheeseslave.


Hope you enjoyed the tour! You can look at more pictures here.

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Something Deliciously New: Nourishing Oxtail Farro Soup

I am happy to share with you a gut-happy, nourishing soup that we all enjoyed very much... even my girls slurped up their portions! It left us feeling satisfied and comforted.


Some of you might be wondering, but it's not hard to find oxtail... well, at least around here! Latin Americas love oxtail soup and you will often have to go early to your favorite butcher to get that one oxtail before someone else takes it. We even tried to have our butcher save us the next oxtail after two tries, but that wasn't possible for him to remember. So, thankfully we were able to snatch some up early one morning after it was freshly removed from the carcass. Yeah, it's that fresh... and no... it doesn't smell bad because they bring in a fresh carcass 3 or 4 times a week! So, we know we are getting fresh meat no matter what and grass-fed too!


Now, normally... most people use barley in their oxtail soup, but I didn't have that... but I had a small bag of Farro (also known as Emmer). This grain is an ancient grain that is making a comeback in the states. I found it at a grocery store when we were up in La Fortuna celebrating our anniversary. It was a bit pricey, but I wanted to try it and that was over 8 months ago!


I'm so glad I bought it and saved it till now!


The grain has a wonderful nutty taste that is different from wheat or spelt. We loved how it added a nice flavor to the oxtail soup. It was a nice change from rice or noodles that we sometimes have with our soups. I would like to try using grains once in a while in our soups to add a variety. I'm always using the grains for making breads and baked goods... why not throw it into something savory like soup?!


Also, I've made this soup with and without the wine. I find that using the wine adds a richer flavor, but the soup still tastes excellent without for those who wish not to use the wine.


For those who are not sure where they can find oxtail... locate a local butcher in your area OR a local farmer that sells grass-fed meats. You will find one somewhere, I'm sure... BUT remember, there's only one per cow... so you must find the one before its gone!

Oxtail Farro Soup

• 4 pounds fresh oxtail
• water
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup raw vinegar
• 2 onions, peeled & chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled & chopped
• 2 celery stalks, peeled & chopped
• fresh thyme sprigs, tied together
• 1-2 tsp dried peppercorns, crushed
• generous pinch red pepper flakes
• 1 cup farro, roasted in the over & soaked at least 7 hours
• sea salt & pepper
• chopped parsley for garnish

Place oxtail in a baking pan and bake at 350 F for about 1 hour or until well browned. Transfer oxtail to a stainless steel pot and pour out grease.

Add wine and a little water to the baking pan and deglaze by bringing it to a rapid boil, while stirring the loosen any coagulated beef juices in the pan.

Pour the liquid into the pot and cover all the oxtail with cold water. Add raw vinegar and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Bring to a boil and skim off any foam. Add thyme, onions, carrots, celery, red pepper flakes and peppercorns. Cover and simmer for at least 24 hours.


Remove oxtail and allow to cool. Strain 3 quarts of stock into another pot and add soaked farro. Reserve any extra broth for other uses. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 30 minutes or till farro is tender.


Meanwhile, pick the meat off the bones and chop finely if needed (mine pulled apart very easily). When farro is tender, add the meat. Season with sea salt & pepper generously.


Serve in bowls and garnish with chopped parsley.

I really hope most of you out there will be adventurous to try this soup! Just think... the tail is full of meaty goodness and the bones with fantastic minerals... all in one pot! So nourishing and excellent for your gut.


This post is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted this week by Kelly the Kitchen Kop and I've also included it in the Pennywise Platter Thursday @ The Nourishing Gourmet.

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South Caribbean Adventures: Bread & Chocolate

First, I want to start off by sharing that it is not easy to find a restaurant in Costa Rica that serves fresh, wholesome, delicious food at a low cost. Good food comes with a very high price in Costa Rica… which is why we rarely eat out. If you want a cheap meal… go to a “soda” where you can get beans, rice, meat, fried plaintain & potato salad for less than $6 a person but it is usually cooked with margarine, MSG and refined oils. Not worth it.


But for $5 a person, this place is totally worth it... 

Bread & Chocolate is a deliciously relaxing place that serves fresh, local, organic food at low prices. They really live up to their name perfectly… this place is dripping with the freshest ingredients of bread and chocolate… plus a fantastic breakfast menu using local, free-ranged, organic eggs.


Literally, everything is made from scratch using local and organic ingredients as much as possible… whole wheat bread made daily, locally made raw ice cream, homemade strawberry sauce, locally grown organic coffee and homemade chocolate sauce using local cacao, handmade truffles & peanut butter cups (to die for!!) and it continues all the way down to the mayo! They even confessed on their menu that they are pretty much obsessed with using the freshest ingredients possible and making everything from scratch. That is something to be proud of... I love that kind of obsession!

the awesome kitchen of Bread & Chocolate

One big obsession they have is their brownies… I’m not joking… they have the best brownies in town. I used (remember, past tense…) to love TGI Friday’s Brownie Obsession, but now I am obsessed with Bread & Chocolate's  brownies! You can taste the love and all the real food ingredients... especially the chocolate & butter in these moist, rich squares.

You can get walnut or mint… I loved the walnut, but you can see that the mint is the favorite. The mint was a little too strong for me, but my hubby loved it. They both were delicious… so get both!


Here’s the wonderful feast that we had. We were so full yet felt great afterwards! Shows that real food gives the real fuel to your body needs to feel great.

I had a fantastic coffee ice cream milkshake... it was so good that I forgot to take a picture before I sucked it down. I don't normally drink coffee, but I love coffee drinks like this once in a while. This wonderful drink had raw vanilla ice cream & espresso blended together and topped with real (fresh) whipped cream & homemade chocolate sauce... now you understand why it was so good!

My in-laws enjoyed some french-press coffee... 

My hubby ordered a fantastic breakfast of roasted herb potatoes, homemade biscuit topped with scrambled eggs & homemade mayo with a side of avocados. The biscuit was flaky, delicious and... made with butter. The roasted potatoes were perfect... soft flesh, crispy skin & tossed with herbs, sweet pepper and more butter. Of course, can't skip the eggs... they were soft & delicious. The mayo had a great golden color (egg yolks) and the flavor was so smooth & rich!

I had their French Toast. I had to have it! Made with their whole wheat bread freshly baked everyday. It sounded too good to past up and... it was! First, I couldn't believe how thick the slices were when they put that plate in front of me. Second, I was concern that it would be dry or doughy. It was neither... this French Toast was the best I've ever had (besides my own). They were perfectly moist, crispy and bursting with flavor. It comes with homemade strawberry jam and whipped butter, but you could also get a side of their homemade chocolate sauce... which I did ask for. Why would I past that up?! I devoured every bite and licked up everything. It was so good. So so good!

Next, we order the simple breakfast plate for the girls to share. It had fresh fruit, scrambled eggs and a homemade biscuit. The girls loved it, but they also loved my French Toast  :o)

Lastly, my in-laws shared a huge waffle with strawberry jam and whipped butter. Made with real ingredients and made fresh to order... they were fluffy and had a great flavor, but I loved my French Toast.

So that was our feast! We were all fat and happy... really we felt great.

While we were hanging out and finishing off the fantastic meal we had a great chat with the owner of the place, Tom Franklin, and asked how he got this place going. Tom first came down to Puerto Viejo from Maryland for a change of pace and bought Bread & Chocolate from a young couple who wanted to move back to the states. Since then the focus has remained the same because he loved what they started. Tom has been successfully running this awesome place for over 4 years now! Please stop by and tell Tom how you found out about Bread & Chocolate.

Meet the cool kitchen crew.

Now, I wish I could say that we went back there everyday... but sadly they are closed on Mondays & Tuesdays. I am thrilled that I went at least once and got to enjoy it so much! Thank you Tom and keep up the awesome work!

I seriously didn't want to leave!

This is part of Real Food Wednesday hosted at Cheeseslave!

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