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Adventures in Ecuador Part III

July 1st, 2011

I'm happiest when I'm surrounded by cacao pods!

So where did I get up to? Right we still have the cocoa plantations to visit! After spending the entire morning learning about fermeting and drying cacao seeds/beans, we hit the road again and wound our way up the mountain side to our first cacao plantation. Calisto, who was the first president of the cacao association took us to visit his family’s farm and it was truly a sight to behold. Beautiful and colourful cacao shells were everywhere and in the midst sat Calisto’s father Ricardo, his mother Maria and brother Edu, chopping the cacao pods with machetes and scooping out the seeds.

Beautiful cacao pods

Cacao pods and shells all around us. Magical!

Amazing the different sizes and colours of cacao pods around us.

We spent several hours wandering round the plantation and it was wonderful to see how so many varieties of plants and fruit trees were growing together. All the cacao trees were surrounded by banana trees and coffee trees and the colours and scent was truly magnificent! This blend and variety of trees growing together must somehow affect the final flavour of the fruits grown and I’m sure the distinctive and beautiful aroma of the Nacional Arriba bean is influenced by the variety of plants growing happily together in the rich Ecuadorian soil.

A picture says a thousand words so I think the best way to convey this experience is by simply adding as many photos as I and share these lovely images of cocoa growing in Ecuador. Enjoy!

Beautiful banana and coffee trees growing together with the cacao trees.

Single green cacao pod

Amazing how the cacao grows on the tree barks as well as the branches.

It all starts with a delicate cacao flower the blooms and buds off the bark and branches of the cacao tree.

The cacao flower buds into a small cacao pod which grows and changes colour as it ripens

Luscious red cacao pod ready to harvest.

Santiago and I with our lovely cacao pods.

Santiago explaining the benefits of bio dynamic farming (and I still have that massive grin on my face!)

After Calisto's family farm we moved on to Luis's (the current President of the cacao association) family farm higher up in the mountains.

Josh and I comparing who has the biggest cacao pod!

And finally more cacao pods!

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Adventures in Ecuador Part II

June 24th, 2011

After an amazing 7 hour drive through the jungle from Quito to Esmeraldas, the intrepid cacao explorers (or more like Cosmic Banditos!) Santiago, Josh, Sarah, my Dad and myself managed to find a comfortable hotel in Atacames and woke up the next day refreshed and ready for cocoa action! After a traditional breakfast of Bolon and delicious fish and plantanes, we set off to the warehouse where the cacao seeds are delivered, fermended and dried.

Delicious Ecuadorian Bolon for Breakfast Delicious fish and plantanes for Breakfast

Delicious fish and plantanes for breakfast

Javier and Dick Sambrano with drying cacao beans

At the warehouse, we met with some of the farmers who have joined together to form an association of cacao farmers and who completely control the production and sales of their cacao. It was amazing to learn about the fermentation and drying process and Dick Sambrano was the expert who’s main job is to ensure the quality of the seeds, the best fermentation time and the careful drying of the cacao beans. He took such pride in his work and it was an incredible privilege to speak with him and learn about his craft (he definitely sees his work as an art form!).

Dick, Javier and Luis all explained to us the art of preparing the cacao bean, first the sacks of fresh cacao seeds arrive at the warehouse.

Fresh cacao seeds

Then the seeds are placed in special fermentation boxes and covered with sacks or banana leaves and left to ferment for 3-5 days.

Fresh cacao beans fermenting

Once fermented the beans are then put out to dry and Dick used a paddle to move them around so they are well aired and dry evenly.

: Drying cacao beans

Perfectly driedcacao beans

We spent most of the morning learning about the fermentation and drying process and even enjoyed some Pacari chocolate made from the beans dried in that warehouse, which tasted incredible!!

Eating Pacari Chocolate with Luis Dick and Javier

After learning all we could from Dick, Luis and Javier, we left the warehouse and made our way to our first cacao plantation of the day. So stay tuned for my next installment soon!!

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Adventures in Ecuador! Part I

June 23rd, 2011

I’m still buzzing and can’t believe that this time last week I was still in beautiful Ecuador. I’ve had the most incredible time and I travelled from Quito in the high mountains of Ecuador to the beautiful coast of Esmeraldas to visit my suppliers, cacao plantations and the cacao farmers where we source our CHOC Chick Cacao ingredients from.

Beautiful views in Quito Ecuador

This is the stunning view we woke up to our first morning in Quito and everywhere we looked there were more amazing views. It’s truly a magical city with beautiful people and views and I now can’t wait to go back!

Such lovely smiley people in Quito

After spending a glorous day in Quito we set off on a 7 hour drive through the Andes towards the coast of Esmeraldas where the cacao farms are.

It was such an entertaining journey and I had the most fantastic travelling companions and was very lucky to share this amazing journey with Santiago, Josh, Sarah and my wonderful father.

Travelling across Ecuador with Santiago, Sarah and Josh

My wonderful travelling companions Sarah, Josh and Santiago

Me and my dad

The hours flew buy as the sights were stunning and we stopped on the way to stretch our legs, eat local fruits and wander round. We even spotted a tiny tree frog!

Lovely fruit sold on the way to Esmeraldas

: Can you see the little frog?

Lovely papaya, bananas and Chirimoya fruit.

There is so much to tell and much more to follow (we still have the cocoa farms to visit!!), so please stay tuned and I’ll continue my adventures in Ecuador very soon.

Amor y chocolates!

Galia x

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Tamsin’s Tantalising Chilli and Coconut CHOCs

March 16th, 2011

Sometimes you meet people who simply inspire you on many levels and Tamsin Fox-Davies is one of them . On Monday this week I had the pleasure of attending the Women Unlimited Conference at the British Library in London, which is always the most amazing event full of inspirational women, advice, laughter and tears and Tamsin was one of the wonderfully inspirational women who spoke at this event (how many times have I said inspiration so far??!). Her talk on marketing for small businesses was insighfull and full of practical advice and Tamsin herself was so full of energy, warmth, wisdom and spark that I couldn’t help thinking chilli and coconut CHOCs, chilli and coconut CHOCs…

So to thank Tamsin for her wonderful advice I decided to create a recipe in her honour, Tamsin’s Tantalising Chilli and Coconut CHOCs, which I’m munching away on as I write this.

: Tamsin’s Chilli and Coconut Raw Chocolates

Here’s how to make these delicious raw chocolates:

Ingredients

50g CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Butter
3 Tbsp CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Powder
3 Tbsp Sweet Freedom or Agave Syrup
2 Tbsp Organic Dessicated Coconut
2-3 Pinches of Cayenne Chilli Powder (to taste)
Plastic tub

Directions

Gently melt the raw cacao butter in a bowl over a pan of water on a low heat (Baine Marie).
Add the raw cacao powder and sweetener and mix well with a metall ballon whisk.
Remove from heat and mix in a bit of chilli powder. Taste the CHOC mix and add more chilli powder unti you have the right warm and spicey taste (not too spicey though, you don’t want to over power the chocolate).
Pour the CHOC mix into a plastic tub or two small takeaway tubs (clean or course!) and sprinkle with the dessicated coconut.
Place the tub/tubs in the freezer and leave to set for 15-20 minutes and enjoy!

Ingredients for Chilli and Coconut Raw Chocolate

Melt the raw cacao butter, add the powder, sweetener and mix well with balloon whiskPlace the raw chocolate mix in the freezer to setPlace the raw chocolate mix in the freezer to set Place the raw chocolate mix in the freezer to set

Place the raw chocolate mix in the freezer to set

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Hooray It’s Pancake Day Today!

March 7th, 2011

Yay! We love pancake day at our house and what could be better than spreading delicous raw chocolate goodness on our yummy home made pancakes? So here’s a CHOCtastic recipe for a delicious raw chocolate spread that’s divine on pancakes, spread on warm bread, eaten straight from the pot with a spoon or spread on anything else you can think of!

Raw chocolate spread recipe perfect for pancake day

Delicious raw chocolate spread recipe, perfect on pancakes!

CHOCalicious Raw Chocolate Spread Recipe

Ingredients

• 65g CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Butter
• 45g CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Powder
• 4 tbsp Sweet Freedom or Agave Nectar
• 2 tsp Vanilla
• 55ml Coffee (or other liquid such as organic milk, soya, rice milk, hazelnut liquor….)

Directions

1) Melt the cacao butter, cacao powder, sweetener and vanilla in a bowl over a pan of water on a low heat.

2) Stir with a metal balloon whisk until you have a nice, smooth mix.

3) Dissolve 1 tsp Coffee Powder in about 55mls water (just under 4 tbsp) and add to the chocolate mix about a teaspoon at a time, stirring well until all the liquid is incorporated.

Pour into a plastic tub or glass jar and leave to set in the fridge for 2-3 hours or in the freezer for around 30 minutes (its gorgeous spread on warm bread just as the cacao butter is beginning to set and perfect as a frosting for our Super Simple Gluten Free Chocolate Cake). Store in the fridge and leave out for around 10-15 minutes before spreading (try not to eat it all up with a spoon though!!).

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CHOCalicious Power Bowl of Raw Chocolate Goodness

January 12th, 2011

It’s a new dawn, it’s a new day and I’m feeling good… Happy New Year everyone!! After totally overindulging at Christmas and enjoying every moment of it I must say, it is definitely time to get back into a healthier eating routine.

I’ve started doing the CHOCShot Non Diet this week and am drinking 1tps of raw cacao powder mixed with warm water (in a small espresso cup) three times a day before my lovely meals and have even started exercising! Wonders never cease I know, but I’ve discovered the joys of the Power Plate! I’ve started going to a Power Plate session at the wonderful Revitalise in Hove and it’s amazing how great half an hour of intensive exercise has made me feel.

I’m also particularly enjoying my breakfasts which is usually a bowl of porridge with raw cacao powder, sweet freedom, blueberries and bananas and this week I was sent a CHOCtastic recipe by one of our favourite customers Holly. She now starts her day and sometimes ends her day with a Chocalicious Power Bowl, which is not only a boost of antioxidant goodness but has actually helped her and her partner loose weight!

Here is the lovely email I received from her:

Hello Galia!

Here is a photo of our chocolicious power bowl!! It is your basic chocolate recipe before putting it into moulds – sometimes I get fancy and add some vanilla. The other part is sliced banana, blueberries (blackberries and raspberries are favourites too), goji berries, chopped nuts, and topped with organic coconut. We vary it daily and also add sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, hemp seeds, honey propolis and sometimes cacao nibs. Any seed and nut mix works but key is the berries and banana as well as goji berries and coconut. WOW we eat this for breakfast or any chance we can get. Hope you can try it…and be generous with the chocolate sauce!

Thanks Holly! I’m looking forward to trying this and hope everyone has a Happy, Healthy and CHOCtastic New Year.

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Heart Warming Mulled Hot Chocolate!

December 4th, 2010

It’s been incredibly cold here this week. After a mad week of being snowed in, schools closed and an intrepid journey home from London (found myself stuck in London on Wednesday night, all trains cancelled and no way to get home, so ended up staying the night in a London hotel, renting a car the next day and driving very slowly home!) I was in serious need of some comfort.

The only thing I wanted when we finally made it home on Thursday was to curl up in front of a warm fire with a lovely cup of hot chocolate. But not just any hot chocolate, the extreme weather called for an extremely special Hot CHOC, so I set about creating a lovely mulled hot chocolate with our CHOC Chick raw cacao powder, milk, spices, Sweet Freedom, plenty of rum and brandy and a little cream. The result was absolute heaven and totally heart warming. I felt warm and cozy within minutes and I have to confess had more than one cup!

deliciously warming hot chocolate with rum

Here is the delicious and super simple recipe which I hope will keep you warm and happy too:

4 cups organic full fat milk (substitute with rice milk or soya milk for a dairy free version)
6 tbsp CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Powder
4-6 tbsp Sweet Freedom or Agave or honey
2 cinnamon sticks or 3 tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tsp grated nutmeg
2-3 whole cloves or 1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp vanilla extract
4-6 capfuls of Rum, Brady and or Cognac (to taste!)
4 tbsp double cream (optional, but highly recommended)

Heat the milk gently in a heavy pan together with the cinnamon sticks, nutmeg, cloves and vanilla. Maintain a low heat and add the raw cacao powder, Sweet Freedom and alcohol, mixing each ingredient in with a metal balloon whisk. Continue mixing and taste to ensure you have the right combination of ingredients (add more to taste if desired) and mix in the double cream before drinking or top with whipped cream. Remember to leave on a very low heat so as not to boil away the alcohol!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I did (hic!).

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CHOC Chilli Con Carne and Chilean Miners

October 14th, 2010

I have been completely glued to the television coverage of the rescue of the 33 Chilean Miners (Los 33) these past 24 hours. What an incredible feat of human endurance, engineering, dignity and faith. This incredible event seems to have captured the world’s imagination; we have all shared in the joy of seeing each Miner being winched to freedom and the incredible reunions with loved ones and family members.

I’d been in floods of tears (of joy of course) from the minute I woke up yesterday till I went to sleep (just as the 29^th Miner was brought to safety) and then again first thing this morning when they replayed the final rescue of the 33^rd Miner. What a phenomenal celebration they all had!

So since Chile has been on my mind so much, imagine my delight when I found Lisa Faulkner’s amazing recipe for Chilli Con Carne with chocolate, which was shown on ITV’s This Morning on Tuesday as part of National Chocolate Week. I of course decided I had to make this amazing recipe in celebration of Los 33 and National Chocolate Week using CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Powder (my family and I have enjoyed eating this hearty Chilli while watching the emotional events in Chile). Viva Chile and Chilli!!

CHOC Chick’s adaptation of Lisa Faulkner’s Slow Cooked Chilli with Chocolate

CHOCtastic Chilli Con Carne with Raw Chocolate

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

Olive oil

1 kg braising / stewing steak, cut into chunks (we had some leftover venison from our Sunday lunch, so I used 500g braising steak and 500g venison)

200g chorizo, sliced

2 onions chopped

4 garlic cloves chopped

2 tsp ground allspice

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp cayenne chilli pepper (I tend to use about 3/4 tsp)

1 bay leaf

1 medium dried chilli (chopped)

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp Sweet Freedom

2 tbsp ketchup

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

200ml red wine or stock

30g CHOC Chick raw cacao powder

1 x 400g tin kidney beans, drained

salt and pepper

To serve

chopped fresh coriander

tortilla chips

sour cream

rice

Method

1. Preheat oven to 140C, gas mark 1.

2. Heat olive oil in large frying pan or casserole dish and brown meat. Set aside.

3. Brown the chorizo. Set aside.

4. Add a little extra olive oil to the chorizo oil, add the onions and garlic and cook gently until softened.

5. Add spices, bayleaf, chilli, balsamic vinegar, Sweet Freedom, ketchup and tinned tomatoes and season.

6. Put the meat and chorizo back in the pan, stir together, then add red wine and raw cacao powder and bring to boil.

7. Transfer to casserole dish if not already and cover.

8. Cook in the oven for 2 hours. After this time, add the kidney beans then return to the oven and cook for a further 45 – 60 minutes.

9. Top with chopped fresh coriander, and serve with tortilla chips, sour cream and rice.

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Messy chocolate fun on a rainy summer’s day!

August 12th, 2010

Easy to make chocolate cake for children

Ella and Becky's Messy Chocolate Cake

Overall, we are having a pretty decent summer here on the South Coast. We are pretty lucky to have had quite a lot of sunshine so far (I’ve even managed to top up the Ibiza tan this week!), but there have been some stormy and rainy days and with the kids off school, making chocolate and baking has been an absolute godsent!

My 10 year old daughter Ella has a real passion for baking and she and our neighbour Becky have been busy conjuring up recipes and using my raw cacao ingredients wherever a recipe calls for chocolate or cocoa powder.

Last Monday was a particularly rainy day and the girls decided they wanted to get messy in the kitchen and made the most delicious Messy Chocolate Fudge cake!

Here is the recipe Ella and Becky made all by themselves!

Ella and Becky’s Messy Chocolate Fudge Cake

Ingredients

2tsp Sunflower Oil
250g (8oz) Self-Raising Flour
6tbsp CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Powder
2rsp Baking Powder
300g (100oz) Butter
300g (10oz) Unrefined Brown Sugar or 200g Sweet Freedom or Agave
2tsp Vanilla Bean Extract
6 Large Eggs
2 20cm (8in) Round Cake Tins

For the Messy Frosting

100g (3.5oz) CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Butter
50g (1.75oz) CHOC Chick Raw Cacao Powder
3-4tbs Sweet Freedom
150ml (1/2 pint) Double Cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 C, 325 F, Gas mark 3. Cut round circles of greaseproof paper and place over the baking tin bases.

2. Brush sunflower oil over the inside of the tin and the greaseproof paper.

3. Sift the flour, cacao and baking powder into a bowl. Place another larger bowl onto a damp dishcloth.

4. Place the butter and sugar/Sweet Freedom into this empty bowl and beat together until creamy. Add the vanilla and beat some more.

5. Crack 1 egg into a cup. Add it to the bowl with 1 tablespoon of flour. Beat well and repeat with each egg.

6. Stir in the rest of the flour gently using a metal spoon and moving the spoon in the shape of a number eight (this keeps the mixture light).

7. Pour the mixture into the two cake tins. Place in the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 40-45 minutes (fan overs will take less time).

8. Remove carefully from the oven (don’t forget to wear oven gloves!) and leave to cool for around 5 minutes. When a bit cooler, run a knife around the sides of each tin and turn each tin upside down over a wire rake, peel the paper off and leave to cool some more.

9. For the Messy Frosting – melt the raw cacao butter in a bowl over a pan of hot water (bain marie) on a low heat.

10. When the cacao butter has melted, add the raw cacao powder and the 3 tbsp of Sweet Freedom and mix well with a metal balloon whisk. Taste to see if sweet enough and add an extra tbsp of Sweet Freedom for a sweeter taste.

11. Once the raw chocolate has melted, add cream and mix well.

12. Remove from heat and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Place in the fridge to cool for around 15 minutes and stir the frosting occasionally to thicken.

13. Once the frosting has thickened (a bit like soft butter), spread a third of the icing on one cake and put the other cake on top. Cover the top and sides with lots and lots of messy frosting and enjoy!!

Adapted with thanks from “Usborne Cookery School Cooking for Beginners” book.

Ella and Becky carefully icing the cake

Who needs to carefully ice the cake? Let's just eat the icing ourselves!

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The CHOC non diet end result

July 23rd, 2010

Phew…2 days to go till my holiday and I’ve just about got time to fill you all in on my final results. I’ve lost 9Lbs in total since I started the CHOC non diet and I’m absolutely delighted that I can fit into my size 14 jeans comfortably. It’s amazing how drinking the CHOC Shot 3 times a day has made such a difference.

Here are some pics of me taken today with my old size 16 trousers and my new size 14 jeans!

Now all I have to do is enjoy my holiday and get back to dinking my CHOC Shots when I’m back! Happy days!