I tried cocoa beans, which are the beans used to make chocolate.
Elated! One of the community leaders that my school hired to help us navigate Ghana bought it for us to try after we finished a canopy walk. I didn’t know what to expect, but it was very sweet and delicious. Typically, people just eat and suck on the outside of the bean because the inside is the bitter part that chocolate is made out of. I really like bitter things, so I tried taking a bite of the inside as well. I loved the crunchy and gritty texture. I couldn’t eat the whole bean because it was too bitter, but I would like to try it again.
It was an unprocessed cocoa bean that came straight from the cocoa pod. The pod was split in half, and we ate the beans inside. It was my first time eating the fruit straight from the source but I've eaten many desserts and drinks that it is essential in: chocolate bars, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate croissants, and hot chocolate.
The Theobroma cacao tree grows in many areas of Ghana. In fact, Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire take the lead in producing the largest share of the world’s cocoa. Near Kakum National Park, there are many small family-owned cocoa farms.
The bean is used in many local dishes and beverages here, such as Milo and cocoa pod soup. Milo is a sweet powdered drink, you put some of it in a cup and add hot water or milk. It tastes very similar to hot chocolate to me, but it has malt extract in it, and it is marketed as an energy drink as opposed to a sweet treat.
