Pineapples

Pineapples are a big business here in Costa Rica. The big companies use chemicals, to keep pests down, that are poisoning the water. In some cases, they are made to replace a towns water supply with another source but few are made to clean up the existing mess. There are rows and fields and entire tracks of land all dedicated to pineapples here. They run for as far as the eye can see. We plant our pineapples from babies that grow directly from a mother plant that we were told was heirloom. A pineapple takes about 9 months to mature and produce more babies.

Cacao Blooms - Start to Finish

The blooms are attached to the trunk of the tree. It seems to me that this is a natural defense to keep the branches from breaking. The cacao fruits are so heavy that just two on any of the branches could cause it to snap so the tree has it's fruit on it's trunk. The last picture is our homemade drying rack. After fermenting we put the beans on this rack in the direct sun for about 4 days then we roast in a wok over an open fire.

Our Cacao in bloom

We have about 25 cacao trees along our creeks here in Costa Rica. We have been playing around with the drying process and learning how to prune our trees lately. We have done a successful batch of nibs but still don't quite understand the tempering to chocolate process. Here are two images of the fruit on the tree and a collection of ripened fruit. Tomorrow we will post two more. I am in love with the look of the tree and the colors of the fruit.

Only because he's cute

The saying is that the squeaky wheel gets the lube, well this little guy hangs around so much that I am posting another image of him. He's a fatty and cute and has made saying good morning to us a ritual. The howler monkeys are proving illusive right now. We are building the photography center so we haven't had the proper time to track them. We spent some time last week at the spot below to observe and listen. We probably made to much noise as we slid on our bums down the cascades. We will capture them and share!

Water Apple

Ladies & Gentlemen, the beautiful water apple. The bright flowers of this fruit tree fall just before the soft, fleshy meat of the water apple starts to bulge. Tasty.