Cocoa Picking Season

 

While the snow flakes are falling the cocoa pods are ripening... 

It's the beginning of cocoa picking season!

After they cut the pod open, the wet cocoa beans are collected in five gallon buckets.  The buckets are often carried on foot to the boucan, the cocoa cooperative.  Even the simplest tool, like a wheel barrel, could make the burdensome task of lugging the buckets to the cooperative easier.  It is a day's labor.

First the buckets get weighed.  Then the pods are sorted and then stored in the Sweat Boxes and covered with banana leaves to concentrate the heat during the fermentation process, which takes 6-8 days.  The beans are turned twice daily.

Busy hands at work.

Once the fermentation process is over, the beans are spread out on drawers to dry in the sun.  The drying process can take up to seven days if the conditions are ideal.

                                                                                         

Once they are thoroughly dried, they are packed in burlap bags so they can breathe.        

Bags and bags of beans...

Waiting...

Women in Action

Pinky crocheting her first bag

out of recycled plastic...

Doris from La Marquis, the village of weavers,

 shaping her pine grass basket.

Pine grass is only worked in this village.

Trish stringing cranes for our L.A. Burdicks holiday fundraiser...

Just learned to crochet...

she is hooked!

These handmade crafts are for sale at L.A. Burdicks in Walpole, NH

or 

contact Dorise 

doko@cffigrenada.org

603-863-6366

Proceeds go to support the women of the cocoa farming community,

 as well as the farmers.

Fashion Show Success

Thanks to Ruggles and Hunt

& Burdicks Restaurant

We raised $1,300 for the cocoa farmers of Grenada!

Thanks to

all the beautiful models,

Vicki,

the waitstaff,

and you, the customers, 

for helping make our fundraiser a success!

The Origami Cranes from Grenada

Thousands of origami cranes were folded by hand

in Grenada by women in the fair trade cooperative of CFFI.

 The crane is a symbol of long-life, happiness, good-luck and

Peace

Wishing you peace and joy

In this holiday season

Find your string of cranes 

at any L.A. Burdicks
or 
contact Dorise
doko@cffigrenada.org
603-863-6366

Cambridge, Mass

Cambridge, Mass

Walpole, NH

Boston, MA

Panforte!

Don't feel guilty

it's goodness for a good cause...

We can ship or

you can purchase at Burdicks

Contact Dorise

doko@cffigrenada.org

Holiday Fashion Show

Vacation for a Change

Winter is coming,

days are short.

Why shovel snow,

when you could be picking cocoa?

Work together with the farmers

harvesting their cocoa in the

 paradis de l'ile aux epices! 

You'll learn how to ferment and shuffle cocoa...

Take day trips with CFFI guides to St. George and the beach, or

walk in the rain forest to the water falls...

You can make cocoa balls with Missis Agatha...

or go fishing with the locals...

and enjoy the tastes and sights of island life...

Proposed trip dates 2013

January 20-27

February 17-24 (optional extra week of work & Carnival)

March 10-17

Space is limited to seven guests on each trip.

For more information contact:

Dorise Kowalewski

doko@cffigrenada.org

603-863-6366

See www.cffigrenada.org to read about our mission.

Gathering and fermenting

Time for harvesting

A good day's work,

empty cocoa pods

This is what cocoa looks like before fermentation

Gelatinous coating tastes sweet and sour

Sorting the beans

Still wet, but fermented

Starting to look like cocoa... 

Sun drying trays are on rails and are pushed like a drawer

into the boucan for the night

The drying trays are as big as your kitchen,

it takes two people to push them

A mountain of dried cocoa beans

ready to...

 bag!

While the cocoa pods are growing….

We are organizing our wares for the 

Christmas Market with a Difference

Shake, shake from the Bolly tree…

Vetiver sachet

Bundles of calabash

Cocoa tea anybody?

Cocoa Tea recipe from Diamond Estate Grenada

Cocoa tea is a rich, local breakfast drink. In olden times, tiny flour

dumplings were boiled in the cocoa tea, making the drink a complete

meal -- the cocoa tea being the drink and the dumplings replacing the

bread.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup grated local cocoa stick or 70%dark chocolate

2 cups water

1 cup milk (cream, 2%coconut milk, or low-fat)

Sugar to sweeten

Vanilla

2 whole cardamon

Bay leaf

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Put water to boil with cinnamon and bay leaf. Boil for about 15

minutes. Grate cocoa stick and add to boiling water; boil for another

10 minutes. Add cream (or evaporated milk, 2%coconut milk, or low-fat

milk to reduce calories). Sweeten to taste. Don't forget the nutmeg Mix

the cornstarch with water and slowly add to the boiling mixture,

stirring all the time.  Strain and serve.

Donkey Eye

A seed from a vine that grows in the lush tropical forest

Used as a good luck charm….

Red Bead Tree

Adenanthera pavonina

Seeds have long been a symbol of love ...

Come join us at the Christmas Market with a Difference

in Hanover, New Hampshire

1st, 2nd, & 3rd of November 2012

Thursday & Friday 10-6 p.m.

Saturday 10-1 p.m.

http://www.ccdcucc.org/cmwad/