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 NEXT STORY »  Wednesday, 21 March 2012  Chocolate cycle: From
bean to bar to blog   My chocolate education started on the
streets of Ecuador, when I almost ran over two people and a
whole lot of beans on my bicycle. One half of the road was taken
up with cacao beans being dried by the sun's rays.   Jumping
back a step in the production process, chocolate is a product of
the cacao bean which grows in pod-like fruits on cacao trees.
Monkeys were the first to discover the cacao plant but they only
ate the thick, fruity pulp that surrounds the beans and spat out
the bitter seeds. But mother nature's master plan meant that
they did us the favour of distributing seeds all over
Mesoamerica.   But back to the beans on the road, once the pods
are cut open with a machete and the pulp removed, drying the
cacao is an important part of the process. Under-dry them and
the chocolate will be sour and over-dry them and it will be
bitter. Drying the bean