Our driver, James, stopped the truck abruptly at the side of the rainforest road. He leapt out and went bounding into the foliage, letting out a yelp now and again to scare away the unseen snakes. The rest of us –- four 20-something American girls, a 30-something man from Halifax and our 23-year-old Rastafarian guide –- remained in the back of the safari-style pickup.
“What’s he see, Lloyd?” I asked the guide, who’d become our fast friend.
“A cocoa tree,” he answered, with an ever-present smile.
James quickly returned holding up a large yellow-green pod as one might present a prize-winning fish by its tail. He passed it up to Lloyd and hopped back behind the wheel to bring us out of the Venus Rainforest Preserve –- a cool, dense patch in St. Lucia’s 19,000-acre rainforest blanket.
Taking a good look at the
football-shaped pod, I was incredulous. “That’s where cocoa comes from?”
Lloyd fished out his pocket knife and slid it cleanly around the diameter of the pod until the shell parted into two. He carefully pulled the top half straight out the bottom and held it up so we could see the milky-colored, sponge-like pulp inside.
“We call these rainforest M&M’s,” Lloyd announced, eyes shining and lips smiling still.
He plucked a piece off the dangling flesh and it came away like the segment of an orange. Popping it into his mouth, he warned, “Don’t chew it. Just suck on it.”
I followed Lloyd’s directions. The segment pulled away and had the sticky consistency of a slice of ripe banana. I was immediately struck by its sweetness as the white flesh disintegrated in my mouth. I sucked on it down to the large pit –- the cocoa bean.
The bean was the color of a kalamata olive and had no flavor at all, though Lloyd advised us not to chew it. “It’s too hard,” he said.
In the 1950’s St. Lucia had a booming cocoa business. But the crop was soon supplanted by the more lucrative banana –- “green gold,” the fruit was called. Forests were bulldozed to make way for banana fields. And then the economic tide turned again in the 90’s, when the European Union began favoring banana exporters in Latin America. Now tourism is St. Lucia’s sustaining industry, but cocoa is starting to step back into the spotlight.
UK chocolatier Hotel Chocolat is currently developing a cocoa estate on the island and plans to build a chocolate factory. Then, if all goes well, they’ll build – oh, be still my beating heart! –- a chocolate-themed boutique hotel. (I hope that means I can eat the bed after I'm done sleeping on it.)
It’s not likely Lloyd’s “rainforest M&M’s” will go on the market anytime soon. But it’s beautiful to know that even without man and machinery to roast, mash and coax the cocoa beans into a contrived confection, there's luscious sweetness locked inside the virgin cocoa pod -- and all you have to do is open it.
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FOR MORE ST. LUCIA PHOTOS, SEE MY JOURNAL.
Welcome back nygirl. I've been going to the blog every day since October and finding nothing, but like an obsessed miner with his pan, I have returned faithfully to the stream. It's paid off, seeing the glittering sentences and images this morning. I feel richer today.
Posted by: Jack | December 21, 2007 at 08:35 AM
Those are nice -- IF you can get to them before the rats find them.
A word of caution: don't get suckered into buying any land while you're there.
Posted by: XuYu | January 01, 2008 at 05:12 AM
And to think I thought I knew so much about cocoa beans. Thank you for sharing this fun experience. What are you doing way out in the Rainforest?
Posted by: Lizzy | January 01, 2008 at 01:35 PM
Jack, talk about gold -- thank you for your gorgeous words, and your touching loyalty.
XuYu, I heard about the rat problem! It's been a major hurdle for the Rabot Estate, I read. I am happy to report, however, that I did not see a single rat while visiting St. Lucia. Now in the NYC subway, that's a different story...
Lizzy, ah, the rainforest! Trust me, trekking through the jungle was a much posher experience than it may sound. I was chauffeured through it -- save a short hike up a well-beaten path to a lovely waterfall. :)
Posted by: Nicole | January 01, 2008 at 08:17 PM
What an interesting story! There was a recent NYer article on a similar topic, but I thought it was really poorly written. I much prefer your story!
Just got back from Christmas holidays in Lapland. Had a really wonderful traditional Finnish Christmas dinner at a tiny restaurant 120 miles north of the arctic circle. The best thing ever - swede casserole, which is apparently made from some kind of turnip, which doesn't sound that great, but when creamed with cinnamon, it is really fabulous.
Posted by: Lara McCoy Roslof | January 10, 2008 at 03:42 AM
Lara, you're a sweetheart! I love one-upping my colleagues at the Times. ;)
Your Christmas dinner sounds amazing! Do you have pics? I'd love to check out the recipe for swede casserole. Maybe it's something other NYGEW readers might want to try?
Posted by: NICOLE COTRONEO | January 15, 2008 at 04:28 PM
Hi, I'm an italian boy, my name's Francesco and I'm from Maratea. I was looking for some pictures of Maratea when I found your reportage about your Italian journey. I really enjoyed it!!! And now I'm reading that you usually write for the New York Times, the Washington Post...wow!!! Congratulations, and good luck! Kisses from Italy.
ps: I'm sorry for my English ;) ciao ciao
Posted by: Franz | January 22, 2008 at 11:51 PM
Wow - that's a great photo.
And amazing to think that my favorite chocolate almond bar came from such a bizarre-looking fruit.
Keep traveling, so I can get more peeks!
Posted by: Karen | February 05, 2008 at 02:49 PM
So interesting! I had no idea that is what unadulterated cocoa looks like. Amazing!
Here from AMom2Boys... :)
Posted by: 180/360 | July 08, 2008 at 02:02 AM