By Lynnie Stein / October 15, 2018

Cacao

If you are blessed with a cacao bean crop here is an easy DIY fermentation

  1. Slam cacao pods onto the edge of a hard surface around their equators until easy to open. Seeds should be un-sprouted and free of mould. Remove seeds from the pods … The most efficient way to clean and prepare the seeds is by placing into your mouth and sucking off the white cacao nectar. Put in a container lined with banana leaves. Try to get a lot of the white bloom from the underside of the leaves on the seeds. Stir the seeds daily for about a week, allowing the liquid to drain through the leaves.

2.  Rinse seeds in water and drain or squeeze out excess.

  1. Dry seeds in the sun. This usually takes about 3 days.
  1. Roast seeds for 2 hours at low temperature or use a solar oven. The seed coats should be very crispy and separate easily from the insides (nibs) when crushed. 5. Shell cacao (optional). Easy to run through a grain mill and (blowing) the seed coats away. You can also remove each seed coat by hand (good party activity). It has been said the seed coats contain a lot of vitamin D if fermented and dried in the sun.
  1. Grind the cacao. You can use a coffee grinder to get it pretty fine for treats or beverages. Or use a mortar and pestle.
  1. The seeds can be stored in jars after drying, after roasting, or as nibs. It is best to store refrigerated.

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