On my 2019 visit to St Lucia, I spent the day in Soufrière, a town on the west coast of St Lucia. Soufrière is home to the iconic Piton Mountains (a world heritage site), the St Lucian Sulphur Springs, Diamond Falls Botanical Garden and Rabot Estate, Hotel Cholocat’s 140 acre chocolate estate.
As a chocolate lover (like most!) I was excited to visit Hotel Chocolat’s Boucan Hotel on their estate and take part in their Bean to Bar experience - creating my own chocolate bar using beans grown on their estate.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF COCOA IN ST LUCIA
St Lucia’s history is closely linked to the beans from the cocoa tree. To understand the link fully, let’s take a step back in time…
After superceding The Arawaks by 800 CE, The Caribs lived on St Lucia until the 1600s, until European settlers started attempting to take control of the island. During this time, the Caribs continued to fight the English, Dutch and French to stop their many attempts of taking the island.
However, in 1650s, the Caribs permitted settlement to the French, followed by a peace treaty in 1660, making St Lucia a French colony. After this, the British continued to make attempts to gain control of the island. The fighting between the French and English continued, the island constantly changing hands between them, until the Treaty of Paris in 1814, when the British ultimately took control.
Using the slave labour of Africans, the European powers introduced a prosperous plantation economy to St Lucia, mainly based on sugar. However, St Lucia, along with other Caribbean islands, also exported cocoa beans to Europe. These Caribbean islands have a climate ideal for cocoa trees. Hot, rainly and tropical with lush rainforests. Cocoa trees grow best in locations closer to the equator. St Lucia exclusively grows the most rare and finest varieties of cocoa in the world, the Criollo and Trinitario.
THE EXPERIENCE
The ‘Bean to Bar’ Carnival Sailing Tour starts with a ideallic sail on a catamaran to Soufrière. A chance to relax and enjoy the beautiful landscape of St Lucia, there’s even a quick first glimpse of The Pitons.
Once docked in Soufrière, we then take a quick taxi ride to Hotel Chocolat’s Rabot Estate, driving through the town of Soufrière which was the original capital of the island when colonised by the French. Soufrière translates to ‘sulphur in the air’ which refers to the ‘Sulphur Springs’ volcano in the area that is also known as the ‘world’s first drive in volcano’ as you can actually drive into the crater of this volcano and walk by the bubbling sulfur springs.
Rabot Estate is now owned by British Chocolatiers Hotel Chocolat which is home to their cocoa plantation and also their boutique Boucan Hotel and Restaurant. Once we arrived, we were taken straight to the ‘Bean to Bar’ workshop. The knowledgeable tutors explained the history of cocoa and how the chocolate bars that we know now came to be. They passed around an open cacao fruit and allowed us to taste the sweet flesh that is around the cacao bean. The flesh is usually discarded in the chocolate making process, as it is the beans that are dried to make chocolate.
Whilst we’re waiting to the bars to set, we are taken to the Boucan restaurant. With a breathtaking view of The Pitons, this is an amazing dining experience. Inspired by the sweet and savoury nature of cocoa and the local produce found on St Lucia, the menu consists of various dishes all some form of cocoa - from the tangy pulp, roasted nibs or signature chocolate truffles.
If you can’t get out to St Lucia just yet, you can also experience the Hotel Chocolat cocoa inspired menu at their restaurant Rabot 1745 in Borough Market!
Once we had enjoyed a lovely meal, we were then given our chocolate bars which had now set. I was really excited to take a bite into my chocolate bar. It wasn’t as smooth as the professionals get it (I blame this on my weak mortar and pestle work!) but I thought it tasted really good. If you prefer dark chocolate to milk chocolate, I think you’d definitely enjoy it. The next stop on the ‘Bean to Bar’ Carnival Sailing Tour was the Sulphur Springs, I’ll share more about my experience at the ‘drive in volcano’ in a future blog post!
