292505 Sun Apr 13 00:48:32 -0700 2003 3 27 General Chowhounding Topics 0 1596664 I was perusing the shelves in a market with a lot of central and south American food products and couldn't resist buying some whole cocoa beans. They are apparently also unroasted, since the scanty directions say to toast and peel them, then grind them with sugar and cinnamon and use to make hot chocolate. So the question is: how do you toast them? Time? Temperature? Indicators of doneness? And does anyone have any ideas of how to use them in some way that would be unique to the whole/fresh bean? Sun Apr 13 00:48:32 -0700 2003 0 Ruth Lafler 1 1596695 When we were in Belize staying with some Mayan Indians I was under the impression they basically did just what your instructions indicated, but am not 100% sure about the roasting. I definitely remember they showed us that they dried the beans in direct sunlight which may be all the roasting accomplishes. You need to get that white sap off which may not have been on the ones you purchased in the store. They would then grind these up coarsley (I don't know if the coarse grind was a choice of preference or necessity since they didn't really have any electric grinders hanging around the thatched hut) and mix them in with hot milk and I am sure sugar since the raw bean is pretty bitter. You may want to check some internet sites for how cocoa beans are normally processed to get a better idea what you should do. Perhaps Hershey's or Nestles publishes some information. The Mexican dish Mole Poblano I believe is made with chocolate. You may want to check your authentic Mexican recipe sources for something along that line. Good Luck Sun Apr 13 15:23:11 -0700 2003 1596664 0 Jambalaya 1 1596746 Ruth In Mexico the beans are roasted to intensify the flavors since heating will release the volatile oils. The roasted and cooled beans are then combined with granulated sugar, canela, and sometimes nuts and run through a stone mill. Or in the very traditional way, those ingredients are hand ground on a matate with a fire underneath (which, of course, takes hours and a good deal of upper body strength). Or, you could pick up Zarela Martinez's cookbook "Oaxaca". In it she has a receipe/method for processing cocoa beans at home using equipment readily available here in the U.S. Once you've gotten the beans processed into a product you like, there are infinte uses from mole to Mexican hot chocolate, to bread pudding, to steusel topping. It won't substitute 1 for 1 with chocolate in our American recipes with out some recipe adjustments, but it's an interesting ingriedent to work with. Mon Apr 14 11:49:39 -0700 2003 1596664 0 Gayla 1 1596819 How wonderful that you found cocoa beans! I spent a month in Nicaragua last year, and my homestay mother bought some in the market. She simply put them in the microwave for a minute or so (I don't remember exactly) and they popped open a little like popcorn. I remember that she had to watch carefully in order to not burn them. She then peeled them and made fresca de cacao, which sounds like the preparation mentioned by the other posters. Just to have the aroma alone was heavenly, and i hope that I can find cocoa beans in my area. Tue Apr 15 01:17:48 -0700 2003 1596664 0 mcwu