Today I planted a cacao tree. I only have some of the ‘not so great looking, but should be planted cacao trees’ left in the nursery. I’m sure they will bounce back. I also winnowed cacao beans with my newly built Frongello cacao winnowing device and then started to run a batch of milk chocolate in the refiner. It needs to grind for at least 48 hours so it will be ready on Saturday.
Yesterday we harvested a small haul of cacao pods, cracked them all open to start a small ferment. The jaguar cacao ferment went so-so but I have no point of reference because it smells different from regular cacao and there is a thick jelly like membrane around the seeds. Today I put them out to dry on the drying racks and we’ll get to see how it tastes 8 months from now.
Originally posted on 2021-05-13, part of the daily planting journal behind Ha’a Chocolate’s food forest on Hawai’i Island.