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Chocolate Plantation Tours |
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Things To Do -
Land Activities
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To experience chocolate in its purest form, visit the ChocoRart
organic cacao farm and chocolate factory in Playa Chiquita, just
outside of Puerto Viejo.
Owned and lovingly operated by a Swiss couple, their cacao is
harvested, fermented and cooked in the same tradtional manner that the
Mayan indians used for thousands of years. Sugar is added to the
chocolate as are natural flavors such as: ginger, coconut, vanilla and
nuts. Tours are offered by reservation only and chocolate tasting is
included.
History of Cacao in Costa Rica:
The
chocolate bean, which is harvested from the cacao tree, has a long
history in Costa Rica. Cacao beans were originally used as currency in
the pre-Columbian times by local Indians. It was one of the major
industries in Costa Rica before the introduction of coffee and tobacco
in the late 1700's outpaced it. Cacao remained an important export
well into the 1900's before a blight swept through the plantations,
dramatically reducing cacao production in Costa Rica. Costa Rica was
the sixth most important cacao producer in the world in 1940.
Almost
all of Costa Rica's cacao is produced in the Caribbean lowlands where
plentiful rainfall and available land go hand in hand for sustainable
cacao plantations. Much of Costa Rica's wildlife and migrant bird
species are finding shelter and homes in these rejuvenating cacao
plantations. It is one of the only agricultural industries that does
not require de-forestation like other Costa Rican products such as
coffee, banana and sugar cane. It is a shade-grown crop.
As more
and more of Costa Rica's migrational birds' critical stopover and
wintering habitat is lost to the region's dominant crops, cacao is
emerging as one harvest that may actually do more good than harm.
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