What I love about this farm: Cocoa on a Caribbean island is enough to put this on my top ten list of farms; however, what sets Crayfish Bay apart is the passion of the producers, Kim & Lylette Russell. They believe in empowering their cocoa farmers and making the technology for “tree to bar” chocolate accessible to others.

In my previous post I lamented about being at a cocoa farm but not being able to taste the meaty white part of the cocoa pod that surrounds the bean. Below are some pics from that dreamy farm, Crayfish Bay Organic Cocoa Estate, a fifteen acre, two centuries old working cocoa estate in Grenada.

Approach into Crayfish Bay Estate. Not in the photo – massive green hill on the left, blue Caribbean on the right.

I expected to finally see cocoa trees growing on a farm, but what I didn’t anticipate was how beautiful and enchanting the place would be. Since cocoa trees do best in shade, the cocoa trees are surrounded by other, taller trees.

Can you spot the cocoa tree? (Look for the yellow bean pods.)

A wide footpath crosses a historic bridge, winding up the hill, following a stream and leading you past cocoa, nutmeg and banana trees. At Crayfish Bay, local farmers control the land, and are free to plant other crops, as long as they follow organic practices. This is important – since cocoa is a seasonal crop, this allows these farmers to create a source of income and food to sustain them year-round.

Nutmeg on the tree

One of the cocoa farmers, carrying home a load of bananas he’s grown near the cocoa.

I was going to write-up a post with more detail on the chocolate-making process, but I came across one that I enjoyed so much, I prefer to direct you to it instead. There’s a fantastically beautiful and detailed post about the chocolate making process in Grenada in this post from Binny’s Food and Travel blog.

After opening the pods, the beans ferment

Kim (green shirt) showing us the drying racks that roll out onto these rails where the beans are dried in the sun

Kim showing us the roaster he built

The homeade winnower he created from readily available parts. This machine separates the bean from the shells

On the door to the processing room

The cocoa produced in Grenada is considered fine or flavor cocoa, a category which makes up less than 5% of the cocoa in the world. This cocoa is considered to have more flavor – literally. These “include fruit (fresh and browned, mature fruits), floral, herbal, and wood notes, nut and caramelic notes as well as rich and balanced chocolate bases.” (International Cocoa Organization)

Visitors are welcome at Crayfish Bay. You can find them on their website or Facebook. If you visit Grenada, you can even stay on the farm.