San Francisco de Marcoris Cacao Plantation

On Saturday April 30, 2016, Elder and Sister Duke organized a day trip to a Cacao (Cocoa) Plantation near San Francisco de Marcoris, about 150 miles directly north of Santo Domingo.

If you love chocolate, this is the place--chocolate heaven!  And it was!!  After a two plus hour drive from the City through rural, rich green valleys and miles and miles of rice paddies, we arrived at the impeccably clean, bustling city of San Francisco de Marcoris.






Continuing two miles outside of the city limits we arrived at a cacao plantation--one of the major cocoa production areas for not only the DR but for the world.    For four hours, our group of 12 leisurely strolled through the cocao orchards being educated (in Spanish) by our Dominican tour guide about the variety of  red, yellow, green and brown football-shaped cocoa pods and  how they get into your favorite candy bar.

We learned the time process of planting trees, grafting new plants to get "the best chocolate,"growing, ripening, harvesting, drying and preparation for cocoa and chocolate production and the exporting to the world.

Cracking open a ripe cocoa pod right there in the middle of the orchard, we tasted the white "slimy"coating of the cocoa bean (looks disgusting but actually tastes pretty good, but not like chocolate...... ) Then our guide explained how the bean is dried and turns dark brown to become cocoa to make powder with various percentages of concentrations.

I particularly love the slightly bitter, 70 % chocolate used to make extra dark chocolate (100% cocoa is way too strong!).  The hands-on demonstration of "pounding" the beans and participating in chocolate powder- mixing was great fun and educational.  A great lunch of egg-plant lasagna, salad, rice mixed with gandules. soft drinks and of course chocolate  made for a very nice get away for the day.