Truly A Chocolate Lover's Paradise

Grenada is unique among the Caribbean islands. It is still largely unspoiled. The beaches are wild and gorgeous.

And the lush rainforest jungles are still full of surprises.

This past Sunday, CFFI volunteer Dorise Kowalewski and friend of CFFI John Prosper went hiking in the mountains.

They were foraging for bamboo.

They use the bamboo to build all kinds of interesting things, like the furniture at the CFFI gift shop.

Up in the mountains they found not just bamboo, but all kinds of juicy fruit growing wild--mangoes and golden apples, and even water lemons, a fruit that is not cultivated and is eaten mostly by Grenada's Mona monkeys.

On this particular trek, Doko and John even found wild cocoa trees, growing as they did centuries ago, before people started cultivating cocoa. The pods are much smaller than typical cocoa pods, and the beans are tiny. They are sweet and delicious, but taste very different from cultivated cocoa beans.

After feasting on all this wild-growing fruit and cocoa beans, Dorise and John sat back and took in the view. They could hear the bells from the church in the town below. Ah, Grenada!

Professional-Cultural Exchange: CFFI Hosts Visitor-Volunteers from the École hôtelière de Montréal

CFFI would like to thank the faculty and students from the Ecole hoteliere de Montreal, who traveled to Grenada last month to participate in a rewarding cultural and professional exchange.

We at CFFI, along with our friends at Jouvay Chocolate, shared our expertise on growing, harvesting, fermenting, and drying cocoa, and on the process of turning cocoa beans into high-quality chocolate. We also offered our guests the opportunity to meet with farmers from across the island and learn about the wide variety of fruits and spices that grow in Grenada.

In exchange, our guests shared their culinary expertise with members of our community, including students at the College of Tourism and Hospitality in St. George, and students at the Adult Skill Centre in Victoria.

Special thanks to our devoted board member and volunteer Dorise ("Doko") Kowalewski for working so hard to make the exchange program a wonderful success!