This was a spirit of the moment visit. We had no camera. Here comes a ”phonto” post. Let’s go! Cacao house (museum)
Watch out for some funny surprise near the entrance. There were sand crabs crossing the road. They’re shy, but active 😉 Spot them in their barrow or in their tracks.
This was a walk around the garden / botanic garden-ish type of “museum”. It was mostly outdoor, so this was not an ideal rainy day activity.
What I do love about this place was that all exhibition boards had both French and English! (YEY!!!) I felt a lot more informed after the visit. The history and botany of the plant was totally intriguing.
Who knew that cacao is such a delicate plant? There’s anything from 5 to 6000 flowers per trunk. BUT only 1% of the flowers will become a cacao fruit. These trees are just not productive at all!
The highlight of the visit was their interactive presentation.
It’s like a 25min thing? The staff spoke about the history and various interesting facts about cacao… all in French. From the reaction of the kids, this was not made for kids at all. 5min in and they were positively displaying radicalised behaviour e.g. rolling on the floor, war crying in some dialect unknown to mankind (and parent alike).
The presentation entailed tasting of almost all their products!!! The tasting list was:
- Raw Cacao fruit
- Dried Cacao fruit
- Fermented Cacao fruit
- Cacao butter (food)
- Hot cacao, the drink
- Hot chocolate, the drink
- Cacao liquor
- Ginger chocolate
- Chilli chocolate
- Cacao butter (skincare)
*I may have missed something, but you get the idea 😉
Tips:
- Do not visit on a rainy day (if you have a choice).
- Tropical strength mosquito repellent.
- Shop at the end / after the tasting session.
- If you’ll read everything (slow surf like me :P), this is an 75min-90min visit.
- Their cacao liquor was… industrial strength?
- Try their ginger chocolate bar!!!
My battery died before the end of the tour. It’s a sign that I am so not meant to be a blogger. LOL
Where was I?
La Maison du Cacao
Grande Plaine
97116 Pointe Noire
Guadeloupe
Closed on Sunday
7 EUR per adult
http://www.maisonducacao.fr/ **like most things on the island… this site was in French only. Again, who cares when there’s fab quality chocolate? Any language will do.
Camera: Sony Z3+
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18 Comments
These are wonderful excitement. I love it.
Cacao alcohol helps LOL Thank you for dropping by, Freddy.
Have learnt so many details about cacao
Thank you foe dropping by, Sangeeta ????
What a fascinating experience, Joyce!
Thank you for popping by, Nana xox
LOVE LOVE LOVE
xxxx
#canibeatravelbloggerlol
So these were taken on your phone camera? … I can’t tell the difference between this and your fancy camera! XD
LOL at the kids’ behaviour at the demo! 😆
Did any of the Cacao fruit taste good?
You look SO sad when your phone died LOL.
Yes haha all photos were done by my phone. I used 2 filters to make them look better; guess it worked 😉
I was totally tempted to take photos of them when they’re raging wahaha but that would be wrong. Their parents were so stressed out.
Nope, the cacao fruit did not taste good at all 🙁 Without the wonder of sugar and milk, cacao fruit tasted spicy and flat at the same time.
Sorbet, sorry for the late reply. I must have missed this during the move. The cacao fruit tasted super weird. I couldn’t associate it with chocolate at all LOL
Hey, no phone / camera, that was pretty sad.
Wow, what a wonderful Botanical Garden. I used to climb a Cacao tree way back then cause we have around 6 Cacao trees on our backyard. Since, I transferred in a big City, I haven’t seen any Cacao yet. It’s been a while Joyce and you really had a great adventures.
Hey, Lai. Yes, it’s been a while. Was wondering where you’ve been. You can climb a tree?!?!? Okay, that’s too adventurous for me haha
And to you! You are the one with all that waterfall and epic hikes adventures!
Yes, whenever I climb mountains, I always make sure that whenever I encounter a tree that is good for taking pictures, I climbed ????.
Wahahahah 😀
That looks and sounds like an interesting visit!
I would love to try the chocolate ginger! Yum 🙂
Thank you for reading 😀 Yes, that ginger chocolate is divine!!! :9
Fascinating images and story Joyce.
Thank you, Denis 😀 Sorry for the late reply.