Heads up Chocolate Lovers, the day that glorifies this sent-from-heaven, decadent substance you crave is near: Valentine’s Day. So, what better, more amazing place to explore (and plan a trip to) than the delicious island (Grenada) where Grenada chocolate is both king and queen?
The Grenada Chocolate Company. Not Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
This tour is not for sissies. No Oompa Loompas here. So, if you want to get a behind-the-scenes, in-depth look at how the award-winning Grenada Chocolate Company organic chocolate is created, then this excursion is for you.The Grenada Chocolate Company is a cooperative of farmers and chocolate makers that was founded in 1999 by Mott Green, Doug and Edmond Browne. Their radical new business model gave birth to the first “Tree to Bar” chocolate that not only reimagined the production process, but also added value to the local economy of Hermitage Village, the town where the factory is located. One of the reasons this chocolate is so exquisite is that they use the world-famous Trinitario cocoa beans that grow right on their own doorstep. The chocolate is produced in small batches through a pain-staking and intricate process to ensure that only the most explosively tasty chocolate graces your lips and tickles your taste buds.
The beauty of producing chocolate right in the thick of where it grows allows the company to do its own fermenting, from which emerges the most complex phenolic profile from the beans. The other reason is that it’s fresher: a lot of chocolate makers use beans that are shipped halfway around the world that might be months, or even years old. Nobody wants that.
But the process doesn’t stop there. The Grenada Chocolate Company extracts its own cocoa butter and adds it to the chocolate to give it an extra luxurious to the already mouth-watering intense fruity flavor. A wee bit of fine organic raw sugar is added, too supplied by a cooperative in Brazil. Plus, dash of organic vanilla beans grown bio-dynamically in Costa Rica. Finally, organic soy lecithin is used as an emulsifier in extremely small amounts. The folks at the Grenada Chocolate Company have found that without this addition it is almost impossible to make small batch chocolate successfully in the humidity of the tropics. Best of all, the cocoa is grown totally naturally without the use of any chemical pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers and has been Certified Organic by CERES.
Should you visit, which we hope you do, stop by Bonbon Chocolates, their factory outlet store where they produce a wide variety of delicious chocolates right on site. In addition to their already off-the-charts, addicting chocolate, they mix in many fruits, nuts and spices of Grenada. You can find this divine spot on the Belmont Estate.
Grenada Chocolate Festival. Here’s a Taste.
Talk about drool-worthy, the Grenada Chocolate Festival is just that and where you want to be. It’s the gooey, scrumptious epicenter of where cocoa and chocolate are organically and ethically produced. During this revelry, you can learn how Grenada’s chocolate artisans craft their famous ethical “tree to bar” products at the Grenada Chocolate Company. Explore the island’s rich history and visit the cocoa farms that are nestled in the lush Caribbean rain forest. Kick up your heels and dance the cocoa. Bliss out during a chocolate yoga meditation. Frolic through a cocoa field. When you’re finished, chillax with some chocolate-infused grub amid other chocolate aficionados. But there’s more. This is just a small delicious sample of all you can savor.So, whadda ya say? You in? All you have to do call 1-800-915-3162 and one of our Beachologists will whip up dreamtastic vacation package pronto. If you want to see all the other tantalizing destinations we can take you to in the Caribbean and Mexico, go here now. There’s nothing sweeter than the beach.
