Brad Makes Chocolate in Ecuador: Part 1 | It's Alive | Bon Appétit

What's that

chocolate

Vinny? Hey Vinny, he's

alive

today, we're going to make

chocolate

, maybe they know it's fermented, but we're here in Ecuador, we came here with chocolate from Qatar, they brought us to some of the farms they work on. We have a little two-

part

series for you. We'll start here on the farms with these pods and end up in San Francisco making the finished chocolate bar, so let's see how many chickens you can have. This matters to you guys, we look like a bunch of velociraptors, hey chickens, not here, I love chickens, hey, Benny came to Ecuador making chocolate, it doesn't get any better than that, dude, hey guys, so here we are at Jimmy.

Jimmy Jimmy, today is Jimmy's farm, he is kind enough to show us around and will show us a bountiful harvest. He has a cool bamboo stick and a little custom blade, but it's sharp here and that forgets the tall fruit, so Jimmy will show it to me. how to do that and then we'll open them up and start making this chocolate process work well Jimmy: yeah I'm going to go for this one okay I'll see if the ice I thought of it in is very powerful yeah a bad boy goes to fall right here. boom ah dose yeah again then he's dogs everywhere we go there's always Jimmy the dog and a man on a horse oh sorry sorry hundred direction see tell me what's a DNA a version of Chuckie yeah look oh cute Oh sharp on the inside oh no It's a good thing they're not ready Jimmy said those aren't ready now that we've collected all the pods, we're going to cut them open with a machete, take out the beans and then start the fermentation process.

Oh no, cocoa. the dust goes Spinney oh look at our day's work here Vinny this is the cocoon of the pile we have the beautiful do yes, she will show me how they open the pods and extract the seeds Vanessa buzz water that's all I'm going to try to open this to me here are the ten fingers Vinny well dona made it look really easy we would be here all day if I had to do this Oh brilliant okay he's like an alien eh this is dangerous oh that one more I'll put it in go back to that no, no, yeah, I need to have that other demo, I mean me, where is it?

Let's see, well, that was easier, it's important to take that little position, now the inner stem there, okay, I'll try it again, that wasn't too much. Bad, oh my gosh, hey, forget about the chocolate, look at that little guy, okay, one more, yeah, so if there is any, this is an immature pod, as you can see, you can't get the beans out. Oh, gosh, right, the pod isn't ripe, so these are the seeds. inside the pod and then from there they go into fermentation, oh you know, I picked those chocolate seeds we got, so now mini, come here baby, look at me now, what are we going to do, we're going to start fermentation in the process Turning there are three different fermentation boxes when you turn it, hell was that Benny, are you hungry, Vinny, here at 8:00 at dinner time, say an animal planet, Vinny, let's go back to what I was saying there, Nature Boy, when we say spin it. just dropping it from the first box on top to the second, that's one turn, don't worry Benny, I'll get the bucket.

Oh, bigger. Oh, usually the first fermentation lasts about a day, the second about two days, and the first about. another day before going to the dryer someone, thanks, yes, okay, you can see that the pulp has already started to break down and that is the fermentation starting to happen. How do we make this movement? I just do it with my hands, I see, I see, whatever you put. delivers everything that is, I mean, it's probably 110 degrees, so let's leave them there now oh yeah, that feels weird, it's almost in the center, it's almost too hot to touch, it even has a faint alcohol smell.

I'm sure there is some alcohol being produced, it's almost like if you smell a bottle of isopropyl alcohol and if you ever did, but it burns your entire respiratory tract and that's what's happening right now. I'm getting drunk on the fumes. here to the next container Benny now, if you were to rush to change, this is what you have set up very

part

icularly. If you changed that, how would that affect Coco? See what happens when they the same fermentation for hemp what

makes

a radionova fermentation date that

makes

it break o co a little bad go me little ACO proceeds us low ferment ahmo's me me to mallomar kitchen and I know kamo ho n taken out full alcohol KO sob oh yes Kalos no no Sweet go yes but oh yes no Kanemaru, so they are happy, it is a very crucial step and you know that they achieved this fermentation process.

The box is made of wood from the farm here. The reason they are so big is so you can get a certain seed mass. because you have to get it to a certain temperature before the pulp starts to break down and everything and you get a full fermentation and at the bottom there are a bunch of holes and when the pulp starts to ferment it breaks down into liquid liquid and it drains away. So we're going to go ahead and empty this box here and then we're going to take the cocoa beans that we just harvested and dump them back in here to start this fermentation.

Well, about seventy-five more cubes and we'll be done. ready, yeah, we're going to flatten this out and then we're going to cover it with those banana leaves, all those microorganisms, all that fermentation, all that life, all that science will take place and once that's done, oh god, the alcohols will burn me the nose, baby. let's head to the solar dryers, okay, so it's up, that's in the atmosphere. Oh butterfly, Vinny, you ruined it. I've got Jimmy here with me, let's go in, this is his solar dryer, so it's pretty much like. a greenhouse where they use the sun to dry the beans Jimmy after you Oh Vinny, hey buddy so Jimmy, why is it important to dry the beans?

An important kilo says sake here so that it doesn't overferment and the cocoa on makes it still I want Possibly do that when we dry these beans, it's actually a crucial part of flavor development. Taking them out of the fermentation boxes at the right time stops the fermentation from ending for men and what would essentially be rotten, is there a reason why you use a solar dryer compared to some type of electric, gas or mechanic? Now my dad explained what was given to him almost without oil and I say colors, I'm fine and I say God.

I won't worry about Kimiko's scam, okay, try it guys, I see you have this pretty badass Rick, what are we? What are we doing with that rhythm? I'll keep my thumb on his processor. I will say that Colin looks the same. Long after they come out of fermentation they stay here, they can't just sit there once, you have to move them around and make sure they dry evenly, we're going at that pace Jimmy, I just want everyone to remember what it takes. next time they bite into their chocolate bar and then the next step we want to fill a bag and bring them to the chicken coop, but I tell you what I wish you could smell it here, I mean, it's just the amazing fragrance of cocoa.

Oh Danny, don't worry, I've got it, so we'll throw this on the old donkey, thank goodness, and head to the coop. I was going to write here goodbye donkey hello guys now we are at the cooperative where the beans are received, weighed and then sent to their final destination our cocoa beans will go to San Francisco to the Guittard factory That's another episode, so let's begin with this process, so I figured I'm going to say 50 kilos, no, on the scale, done, sixty-six point four, so what is that? That's it, it's a hundred and I can't do math. 130 pounds, pretty heavy.

They're having these guys are no joke now that they have the weight that we're going to drop a little bit into the cleaner so what it is is a mechanical machine that just shakes and separates the small particles from the large particles properly and keeps the beam, okay, Vinny, nice and clean, sorted by size, beautiful beans and now we're just going to know how to label them, put them in a jar, send them the old San Francisco and then they'll make some chocolate, huh, it's amazing how much job. That goes into cocoa farming long before chocolate comes into the picture, there's a lot more that goes into chocolate than we were able to show you, from pruning trees to creating nurseries, educational programs that teach the next generation how to continue. this trade these practices are improving the environment making the chocolate better super grateful to be able to see that all over the world they are doing this in many different ways thanks to the farmers of Ecuador Jimmy and his family for showing us their way it is just really Fascinating the amount of work that goes into what seems like such a simple product.

Alright guys, this is the end of the first part here in Ecuador. These beans are ready to go. We will ship them to San Francisco. We're meeting at the guitar factory for part two, we'll do some of the finished product, so Vinny and I have to catch a plane. See you in San Francisco. Enjoy. Oh, just the bee bun that's our friend's, except the tender pork. Hi Vinny today in your live cow pods Vinny Hi guys, Hi guys, oh Hi guys, I know, so I introduced him, you know, I do that, I usually don't draw a blank, oh the puppy, baby, cut chocolate , there is no chocolate, it is your thing in a coma.

I'm supposed to make chocolate with all this cuteness, it's stupid, oh yeah, mm-hmm, here we go, four hits, that's all on this one, this is the best one for kassadin Lafayette, a war.