In the world of cacao, I come from the end product, where it is already chocolate. My work is to manipulate that mass, amazingly beautiful ingredient, to different shapes and sweets, cakes or ice-creams to stimulate the taste-buds of human beings. To share pleasure, in people's everyday life. Just to see that one smile, simple happiness of tasting something really good, and I know that my love for my profession is worth of it.

One of the most important things for me is good ingredients

I was born under the northern sky, with lot of forest around full of berries and mushrooms. With my family we used to go every year to look for blueberries. First challenge was to find them in huge forest and not to get lost at the same time. Then to pick them up to the basket and also to the mouth. When we got back to the house, it was time to clean them up from all the leaves and unripe berries. After that my mother made a tart with them, and the taste of it was never ending joy of pure delight. When I see now blueberries, I have a big respect for them. Because I know how they look at the forest, how we had to walk around for hours to find them, and how the fresh air was blowing on my face.

That was just an example of one ingredient, but that is the way I see all of them. I like to search for information about the ingredients, that I don’t have the same personal touch than blueberries. It is true that some of them take more of my interest than the others. And there is still lot of ingredients that I don’t even have a clue that they exist.

About the Chocolate then

While working at the chocolate factory I got to smell, touch, feel, taste and enjoy chocolate everyday. It had taken my attention before, but then it totally touched my heart. I loved to go and see when the fresh beans arrived from all over the world in huge bags. When one bean from Java looked totally different than one from Equator. After they were cleaned and roasted, then separated from outside shell and grinded. The smell from that department, when the pure paste came out of the three-roll refiner, or when conching was made, brought me always back to wonder about the beauty of chocolate making.

But what about the beans, where they come from on those huge bags? Where the trees grow and how they are treated? How about harvesting, fermenting and drying on those countries where development is still far away of ours?

I asked and searched from the books, but all the time more and more question marks came along the way. I needed to go and see on my own eyes, touch and smell myself, feel the process on my hands and my back bone. I needed to learn the language before. So I took private Spanish lessons during one year and tried to figure out where could I really go. After lot of frustrations, I finally got on contact with right persons. Via my colleague, Philippe Colnel, to his ex colleague, Cyril Prud’homme, to his friend / chocolate expert, Chloé Doutre-Roussel, to his friend / one of the worlds best chocolate maker, Steve DeVries, who knew a Dutch couple, Hubertien and Hugo Hermelink. They welcomed me to their family cacao plantation in Costa Rica. Big thanks for all of them, I was ready to back my backpack with some mosquito sprays and Spanish dictionary.

In Costa Rica

I have been traveling and working in a different countries, but this was the first time I put my feet on Latin America. Although my travel guidebook told me that Costa Rica is the most safety country in central America, my stomach was full of butterflies when I arrived. Even that I was little bit stressed, I had for so long dreamed of this voyage, that I couldn’t stop smiling.

Just think positive and things will go well

I did thought positive, but I never, even in my deepest dream, couldn’t thought that the voyage could go so well and be so fulfilling. Fortunately life is full of surprises.

Right on action

5.30 a.m. on first morning the hotel’s telephone rang. It was Hubertien Hermelink, who asked very kindly if I would be ready at 6 a.m., when her husband, Hugo, would pick me up to see some cacao plantations in northern part of Costa Rica. Of course I was ready, more than ever.

Upala and my first cacao tree

We drove up to north during four hours, near to the town called Upala. At the mean while I was able to capture the beauty of country side, rainforest and massive volcanoes.

The first cacao tree I saw was at the nursery, still too smalls to have any fruits. One great thing was that the responsible of that nursery was Tica, a local woman, as normally only men do work there. Basic things in the nursery are; to product trees with strong roots that would survive after planting, and to clone cacao trees that would be good in producing fruit without illnesses. There trees of different ages and types were in rows under the protected fabric. The small ones where waiting to grow enough to be able to be mixed with another type. Cloning was done by cutting out little part of the bark and placing there another type of twig. They were also testing what would be the best method to grow strong roots for vanilla.

Costa Rican cacao plantations

At the north we visited three different plantations, which were all different. Like most of the cacao plantations in Costa Rica, they were all 1 to 5 hectares. Few years ago Hugo started to collect cacao from the small plantations, to ferment and dry them all at the same place, to provide better and more even final product. At the first plantation men where harvesting. I couldn’t stop marveling those amazing trees full of cacao fruits, and lot of things that where told to me, just didn’t got my full attention. Though, what got my attention was local biologist with a sloth. He have been studying their lives during four years. He had built a system, like a detector, to find the sloth. During those years he had found out lot of new and unknown information about them.

Second plantation was other side of the road, an old plantation owned by some big family that have totally abandoned it. It is a shame, but lot of abandoned cacao farms are all over the country. The trees were big, and they had only few fruits, all full of Monilia, the malady of cacao. Whole plantations was shady, there weren’t any light for flowers to grow. The difference was huge between those two one.

Third one was between them. Abandoned farm, what they have started to work on. Looking really healthy, but still needed more time to be completely recovered.

Weather

Even though Costa Rica is small country on the map, there is lot of different weather going on. In the north it rains less and is specially better climate for cacao. While near capital, in San Jose and the central valley, the weather is much cooler and rainy season comes earlier than in east where the family plantation is.

Final Destination

Trip on the north was just a little extra, some business that Hugo had to deal on the same day I arrived, luckily for me. The next day he drove us to his family’s plantation, ‘Finmac’, which is more at the east side. There was my work field for the next one month. Hugo’s father, Ben Hermelink, planted 110 hectares of cacao trees on 1985. But the past 15 years Hugo have been managing the plantation, after his father died in a car accident. All those years he has been fighting against Monilia and trees that don’t product well. At 2000 he started to produce organic cacao. Right now, the quality of cacao is excellent and things are going on a good direction.

Different kind of plantation

This place was something different that I have imaged to be cacao plantation. All the trees were in the rows, to separate the different types of Trinitario clones, what they had created to find the best type of tree. And then to find out what type of trees are next to each other for the best pollination.

The whole area was sectioned with cables, to make harvesting easier by conducting the fruits to the center with containers hanging off the cables. Also it helped to organize work better. Actually that was it, what surprised me so much, the organization. Workers were treated and paid well. They worked 5 days a week, with possibility to do some extra money by working half day on Saturday. Hours were from 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. plus breakfast break in the morning, then lunch, and coffee break in the afternoon. Even that the workers are treated well, and cacao is organic, they can’t be part of fair-trade. Why? Farm is too big. Somebody have decided that big cacao farms can’t be fair-trade. Why? Don’t ask me.

The beautiful importance of every step

• Soil: Wellness of cacao tree starts from the soil. In this organic plantation they add every year fresh compost under all the trees. It had made a big difference in the good health of the trees and people who work with them.
• Water: In the plantation, they have underground system that collects all the water that rains, about 4500 mm per year. (Drainage not irrigation)
• Shadow trees: So small flowers and so big cacao pods at the end. It is the flowers that need sun to become fruits. And fruits like more shadow. Banana, Coconut and other trees were here and there to maintain the perfect condition for cacao trees to grow.
• Cutting the trees (pruning): To cut the healthy trees right, to maintain a cacao tree to grow and to make lot of beautiful flowers and fruits is very complicated. It needs a knowledge and experience of several years, one month wasn’t enough.
• Cutting out Monilia (fungal cacao disease): When fruits are there, good ones should stay but the bad ones needs to be cut out. Otherwise they will take the energy of tree and spread the malady. To find them sounds easy, but isn’t it, trust me.
• Harvesting: Cacao is harvested all year around, with some peaks, on November/December and April. Harvesting the big and ripe cacao pots needs more sweat and muscles than any other procedure. Bag back full of ripe cacao is more than 50kg, that is one reason why the workers are full of muscles.
• Beans out the pod: By hand it is possible, but so many many times longer. I saw how important is to use machine to take beans out of the cacao pod.
• Fermenting: How is it done, makes all the difference to final product. The flavors that come out when you are standing in the beans until your knees, shoveling them to other container, while morning sun is starting to heat. The same flavors comes out of the chocolate bar, when it is good quality.
• Drying: The sun drying or with hot air coming under the beans. Sun drying is more complicated and needs constant care but is the natural way doing it. Both of them needs lot of shoveling and passion. Not too quickly, not too slow. To be sure that the heavy rains don’t make harm.
• Cleaning: It is a big machine the blows out light parts of cacao pots or other unwanted particles, when heavy dried beans goes down to the bags.

In the factory

In that plantation most of the cacao is exported in cacao liqueur to Belgium. The procedure is made in the factory, at the middle of plantation. Before going inside, the clothes had to be changed on whites, hands washed and disinfected. The working room in the factory was cleaned after every use, because at that moment it wasn’t the busy harvesting and the liqueur was not done everyday.

To get along

Finnmac is situated next to the village ‘Pueblo Nuevo’ of about 500 habitants. There is three churches and one bar, few small food shops and bakery. The friendliness and kindness of the people is over whelming. I didn’t have any problems, what so ever. My mouth was a one big smile, even under the hot sun and humid climate, I enjoyed every single moment.

Under the cacao trees I also met some animals what I have before only seen in pictures, like big snakes and spiders... but after all they seemed to be scared of people and went away quickly. Also I saw pineapple and banana farms, witch were just next to the cacao. I had first time in my life horseback riding, and gave antibiotics for the cows. After 2 weeks I had a permit for a three days trip to Guatemala, to see the pyramids of Maya. After all they were one of the first cultivators of cacao.

Making chocolate bonbons in Costa Rica

During my last week, I taught for a couple of days for a group of 8 local women how to make chocolates. They are called ‘Amazilia’ and they had done already during 2 years chocolate bonbons and bars which are sold mostly for tourists. A big experience for me too, while the climate was so different, as the ingredients and materials as well.

For a very nice surprise, I was sharing some moments with two amazing men, very passionate about chocolate. They had just started to open their business near San Jose, Sibu chocolate. They worked with organic Costa Rican good quality chocolate, creating excellent chocolate bonbons. It was a pleasure for me to see that people are still making their dream come true.

Back at home

I am still in love of this amazing tree that makes a difference in lives of so many people all around the world. It is something more than just a regular plant.

When one sees the tree it self, he knows why long time ago the beans where money. It is really hard to maintain right quantity of shadow, sun and water for tree. The better quality of cacao is also more fragile for illnesses and harder to grow. The tree itself takes your breath away by it’s beauty. The flower is so small and white and grows just there, in the middle of the trunk or biggest branches. Then little by little it becomes a fruit, a cacao pod. Depending of the type of the tree, it can change its colour four times while maturing, or just once to be little bit lighter. I loved to walk in a plantation and look at all of those different coloured cacao pods around, from green to yellow, or red, fuchsia, orange to almost white. Also the shape of the fruit changes depending of the type; rounder, smaller, bigger, longer. Some types have big fruits but very thick skin, so that inside is only few beans, like normally there is about 40 beans. So the size doesn’t tell everything. The beans are covered with white pulp, what has a really pleasant taste of something sweet and sour, but it is far away from chocolate.

Cacao tree is a miracle that human beings have created to be chocolate. Now, every time I see chocolate, all those memories pass my mind. I can feel the humid and hot climate, the sweat, the smell and beauty of cacao tree. I will continue my journey in the chocolate world and share the smile it brings on to my face.

In Geneva, Switzerland, 31st of October

Mirjami Simula