When I started here, I didn’t know anything about chocolate-it was a brand new experience for me. I started the journey of making pastries in the kitchen, but soon I also started working with the Chocolate Lab-here, we extract fermented and dried coffee beans from the on-site farm, and then use them with sugar and others for making The flavors are mixed together with chocolate candies. At first the laboratory was small, but as time passed, production began to grow, and they needed a person who worked in the laboratory full-time.
It took me about a year to learn the basics of chocolate making, and I learned all the knowledge at work. Even now, I have never stopped learning new things. I will use the Internet to find new ways to make recipes more creative.
I work about eight hours a day. When I came in, there were many things to do. This includes the different chocolate tours and immersive experiences we offer-one of them is called a “discovery” tour where guests can come in and make their own chocolate bars and then take them home, which is really fun.
Chocolate itself actually starts with fruit. When you only taste the fruit itself, there is no taste of chocolate. After removing the beans from the pod and finishing the process of drying, fermenting and roasting them, it will give off flavor.
The Emerald Estate, a farm in the resort, is also owned by the resort and is part of the hotel. Therefore, the entire process of growing and making chocolate is done on site.
I will also try everything I create to make sure it tastes right! I need to make sure it is correct before using it for any purpose or selling it to our customers.
So if you don’t like chocolate, then this is not for you! I really like making decorations and various designs, such as chocolate decoration for desserts, including flowers, wedding hats and cake hats, because I like to learn and try new things.
The cacao tree has become a part of Saint Lucia’s history and culture. It has a history of about 200 years. However, in the past, only plants were planted and beans dried on the island before they were shipped to a chocolate manufacturer in London, France里. And Belgium.
Chocolate making has recently become an important part of Saint Lucia’s culture, and it is also an important reason for people to travel to this island. Now everyone is trying to follow the work we are doing here-in fact, some people who work for us have opened their own shops here.
We even had a few guests who came here to do our “discovery” workshop. After they learned how to make chocolate from me, they went home, bought their own equipment and started making chocolate on their own. Knowing that I have contributed to this makes me very happy.
During the pandemic, the country was basically closed, so we had to pack everything here and store it properly to make sure it stays the same when we close the hotel and there are no guests in the past few months.
Fortunately, we harvest cocoa in two seasons-spring and late autumn. Before the COVID epidemic, we had completed almost all harvesting work this spring, and now technically speaking, we are between the two seasons and we have not lost any crops.
The beans will be kept for a long time, and the made chocolate will also be kept for a long time, so it will not deteriorate there. During the shutdown, we have not yet dried, grated and made the production of chocolate bars. Since the property continues to sell chocolates online, and people continue to order chocolates, it is a great thing that we have not sold out yet.
We have many different recipes to create flavor, especially for bars. We use lemongrass, cinnamon, jalapeno, espresso, honey and almonds. We also offer many flavors of sweets, including ginger, rum, espresso and salted caramel. My favorite chocolate is cinnamon chocolate, we harvested cinnamon on the farm for this-nothing else, it’s such a wonderful fusion.
Just like wine, beans grown all over the world have different nuances. Although they are similar beans, they are actually the growing season, growing conditions, rain, temperature, sunlight, and climatic conditions that affect their taste. Our beans are climatically the same because they all grow very close together. Although we mix many kinds of beans, they are so in our miniature.
This is why every batch must be tasted. You must ensure that the beans are mixed enough so that the chocolate to be mixed has a good flavor.
We use chocolate to make beautiful things. Chocolate pastries, chocolate croissants and cocoa tea, this is a very traditional Saint Lucia drink. It is cocoa mixed with coconut milk or ordinary milk, and has flavors such as cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, and Baileys. It is made as a morning tea and has a very medicinal value. Everyone who grew up in Saint Lucia drank it since childhood.
We also use cocoa, chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate velvet desserts, chocolate banana chips to make chocolate ice cream-we can continue. In fact, we have a chocolate menu, everything from chocolate martinis to chocolate teas to chocolate ice creams and others. We really want to emphasize the use of this chocolate because it is so unique.
We kind of inspired the chocolate industry in Saint Lucia, which I think is very important. Looking to the future, this is something young people can start to do, and realize that when you make this handmade chocolate, the quality and difference between commercial chocolate candies and refined chocolate is huge.
Not “candy”, but beautifully crafted high-quality chocolate. It is good for the heart, good for endorphins, and gives you a sense of tranquility. I think it’s great to find chocolate as a medicinal food. People do relax when they eat chocolate-they enjoy it.
One thing we want to do is “sensory tasting”, we provide people with the opportunity to explore their senses and matching chocolate, so that they can better understand their own diet and eating style. Many times, we just eat without considering the ingredients of the food.
Tasting a piece of chocolate and then letting it melt in your mouth can promote attention to your diet. Let the aroma rise to your nostrils and enjoy the taste of chocolate on your tongue. This is a true self-discovery experience.
Chef Allen Susser (Allen Susser) and the hotel have just launched a recipe called “Yushan Gourmet” that can be purchased online, which is a selection of 75 recipes that are exclusive to the resort.
suzy@lstchocolatemachine.com
www.lstchocolatemachine.com
Tel/whatsapp：+86 15528001618(Suzy)
Post time: Aug-13-2020