I just want to share what I found in the provincial market of Naga City - fresh cocoa beans. My husband was tempted to buy but when I looked at him with my inquiring eyes, he shook his head in surrender. The vendor said that the beans are still to be processed but she did not clarify if the beans have to be roasted like coffee and then to go to the grinder. By the way, we call it cacao but cocoa is also an accepted term here. Here is how the cocoa beans look -
@Corie Henson Thank you so much Corie! I have often wondered exactly what they looked like! No idea how they are processed, either. I have been a chocolate-lover all my life. My Mother always used unsweetened baking chocolate, and I can alm ost remember the incident when I begged for a piece long enough, and she gave it to me, and I might have spit it out in surprise! Sometimes, she yielded, buying the semi-sweet baking chocolate, which tastes wonderful! Frank
@Joe Riley, do you know why they call it TABLEA chocolate? Because it is like a big pill or a giant tablet. But people in Manila see the tablea chocolate as a coin because it is round like a coin. In our home, we cook tablea chocolate for Christmas eve and/or New Year's eve as part of our family's tradition. The lower pic is the fruit of the cocoa tree which when opened would show sectors like a pod. The beans have a covering which is sweet. I still have to taste that covering of the cocoa beans.