Anyway, even incorrectly fermenting the beans is educational, but enough is enough. I’ve now moved to ‘sun’ drying them by placing them on a plate near the radiator in the kitchen.

I think a few days of this and then I’ll try to roast and make something with them. The end product may well be inedible, but finding out how not to make chocolate from the bean is as useful as finding out how to do it right – kinda. At least it will help to identify defects in properly made chocolate.

Early yesterday there was a little white mould or fungus, and later in the day a few spots of green mould of the type you see on bread. I removed these and have tried to mix the beans up a few times a day and so far this has stopped the mould returning.

The problem now is when to stop. Should I assume the the fermentation is going slower than in the tropics because of temperature and lack of the right yeast / bacteria in the atmosphere? Or should it be stopped now to prevent over-fermentation?

If the fermentation should be stopped, then how?! Is it a case of beginning the drying process? Thoughts and suggestion welcome at http://www.seventypercent.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1035 .

Here’s today’s photo, and I think you can see a real difference here. At some point I think the beans should go a lot darker, but I guess this could still be a few days away.

The pulp is certainly becoming more liquid and seems to be less in volume around the beans, but I haven’t actually seen any liquid drain away as yet. Maybe because the bean quantity is so small, it will just evaporate.

Although this is day 4, my feeling is that the process only really started yesterday.

Here’s the latest photo:

You can’t really see much difference in this photo, but I think this close up shows a little more that something is happening:

I’ll try to post close ups for the next few days for comparison. At least this looks like the fermenting beans I’ve seen.

Comment on this subject in the forum at http://www.seventypercent.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1035 .

There is now a faint ‘fermented’ aroma, plus something like forest floor. I hope this is a good sign!

I’ve now moved the beans into the sieve as in the photos below. Based on advice from the forum that I might not have enough beans from just one pod to create enough heat to ‘kill’ the beans, I’ve tried to keep them covered and tight on the top, while giving them room to drain and breath underneath. I’m also checking them frequently and applying tender loving care, plus I hope enough heat from the kitchen. It’s hard to keep the heat constant though, so this may have a negative effect.

Here’s my new setup:

The beans are beginning to look a little like they are fermenting, but I guess the next day or so will really tell.

Comment on this subject in the forum at http://www.seventypercent.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1035

Here’s the arriba pods before the knife – almost fresh with just some browning going on.

For demonstrations and tastings I usually cut them open length ways, but this time I tried across the middle, to allow the beans to come out uncut in one long blobby caterpillar. I chose the browner, fatter one above – just because something banged around inside the other one when you shook it, and for no good reason I figured maybe this had dried out more inside.

Here’s the cut fat pod:

Having done this it was hard to resist trying both the pod and the bean covering, which I was told would still be edible. The bean covering was lightly sweet, with a taste a little like bread dough, but astringent afterwards. I also tried some of the inside of the pod, which was very delicately flavoured a little like lychee with the freshness of cucumber. The texture quite solid.

Fermentation – day 1

So now to begin fermentation! At first I had the idea just to leave the beans on a plate for a few days and see what would happen, as in this next photo …

I soon realised this probably wasn’t a good idea and have moved them into a bowl with a suspended sieve, to allow ventilation and the liquid to drain off.

This is my first attempt at this, so I’d welcome suggestions and comments. For now, please use the forum thread here http://www.seventypercent.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1035 . Sometime soon we’ll have the forum logins synced with the new blog software here so you can leave comments directly.

Look out for more tomorrow!