Chocolate Cacao Nectar Vinegar

Can you believe that there are cacao trees that go unharvested here?!?! Not only that, but since there are so many chocolate makers, there is no shortage of cacao nectar either. Since we brew from abundance, chocolate vinegar was always on the forecast from day one.

Chocolate making is a craft. Fermenting cacao beans is an art. The nuance of chocolate starts with the tree, the ripeness of the pod, the thickness of the white fleshy fruit around the bean, the bean itself, the fermentation, the dehydrating, the roasting, the winnowing, the grinding, the additional of vanilla or no vanilla, the conching, and finally the tempering. THIS is why trees go unharvested, not because the beans are unwanted, but more so that the trees' care takers are not chocolate makers. It is just a tree they planted for fun or was already on the property when they bought it. And on the other hand, there are tons of cacao farms on the island where chocolate making is taken VERY seriously. First in class. The beans we get are from the prior mentioned trees and the nectar that is shared with us is from the later serious chocolate makers. 

Cacao beans have a beautiful white flesh around each bean that tastes kind of like skittles. If the pods are harvested too ripe, this flesh dries up leaving very little sugar behind. That fruit sugar is critical for fermentation. Point being, the pods need to be perfectly ripe. This is why cacao growers will ferment the fruit before shipping the dried beans to chocolate makers, versus shipping fresh pods to the makers. There is very little time after the pod has been harvested, those beans need to get straight to fermenting while the fruity flesh is still plush. 

During fermentation, the fruity flesh releases its juices, and a resourceful chocolate maker or cacao grower will catch this sweet nectar! It naturally sours quickly so if it is going to be used for something sweet like a sorbet, it needs to be done so immediately. It could also be refrigerated for several days without starting to sour, but not many have that much space in their fridge for buckets of nectar. So more often than not, the nectar just gets tossed. 

One mans discard is another's liquid gold. What if we embrace the souring?! What if you catch it in those first few days of fermentation, bottle it and have a nice sparkling cacao wine?! We've tried it, confirmed, its delicious. But since we are vinegar makers, we just let nature do its thing and let it start oxidizing right past that alcohol phase. The results are skittles vinegar!

And better yet, when we are gifted this nectar, we like to add fresh beans into it. Layers. Fractal. Cacao on cacao. Now this is an unusual way to ferment cacao beans... in their own liquid? Usually its the opposite, drain the juice as they ferment. This is where we discovered something novel, the spent beans can be dried and roasted and have the most beautiful fruit aroma! We thought they would be soured, but it was quite the opposite. It is on our list of ideas to actually grind and process those beans to make a chocolate bar but for now we've only made nibs. I'll keep you guys updated, we expect it to be excellent.   

Another thing that gets scrapped is the skin around the bean after they get roasted. This skin is soooo tasty and has the essence of chocolate even more so than the nectar. We will infuse these skins into the finished cacao nectar and bean vinegar. Now we are talking cacao to the 3rd power. Exponential. 

And last, what if we take the cacao to the 3rd power vinegar and splash it on chocolate cake? Does that make this chocolate to the 4th degree? I think so. 

The beauty of vinegar is that it is neither sweet nor savory. It is as it is.  So if you think chocolate vinegar is only for sweet treats, open up your mind, taste it and think again :)

I've attached a few fun videos of the process if you want to see these concepts in action!

Sour Flower Chocolate Making 

Tasting Cacao Vinegar on a Fresh Cacao Bean

Chocolate Muffin with Chocolate Vinegar