Esteli, Tisey Reserve, food, Cacao, chocolate factory

We took some day trips from Esteli.  

First we went to Tisey Reserve. First we took the 6:00 bus to Tisey and went and walked around an ecolodge there where you can get breakfast and then hiked up to the top of the hill to see the view.  We then hike out to Garnacha to get buy some homeade cheese and honey as well as to hire horses. The horse are $5 an hour per person to rent.  We then went to the house of the rock sculptor. The sculptor gave us a tour of his grounds for a tip.  He was very friendly and talkative though often repeating himself.  He gave us the most amazing pineapple that he picked from his farm.  It looked green and was really hard so I thought it wasnt ready but it is one of the sweetest pineapples I have had here.  I wish I remember what type of pineapple it was.  It had very sharp thorny leaves and had many baby pineapples coming off the bottom which was growing on a stalk. 

The next day we went to spend the day in Matagalpa.  

Less than two hours from Esteli we arrived at the city in the morning and had time to walk around and get breakfast.  We first went to the chocolate factory which is a short cab ride from the center.  El Castillo Chocolate factory is one of the only producers of chocolate in Nicaragua. They give a free tour in the morning and the cacao they purchase is organic, the problem is finding organic sugar so their product is not completely organic.  They make a non milk chocolate which is great for baking.  They temper their chocolates so its still nice and smooth and not like Mexican chocolate which is often gritty and not smooth.  I highly recommend their chocolate as well as their tour.  The owner who happens to be Dutch was nice enough to give us a lift back into the city. 

We went back to the city center and had a nice lunch and then headed to the bus station to catch the bus to Jinotega to get to the coffee factory, farm and hotel Selva Negra. Its a very beautiful place and the tour was nice though very expensive at $12 a person!  They produce organic coffee.  They only have arabica which is picked once per year whereas robusto is picked 2x a year.  They obtain about half their coffee from their own farm and half they purchase.  They use organic methods and use natural pesticides as neem citronella and eucalyptus.  The guide joked that they like to hire women cause they dont get drink fight and they work faster.  After the beans are picked they are put in water to separate the beans from dirt and other things.  The beans floats and the dirt goes to the bottom.  They then take off the fruit and skin and the let the beans ferment in water for 15 hours.  They use the bean skin after fermenting for biogas. The biogas they use the bacteria from the 4th stomach of teh cow and put in in the tak with teh   The fruit they use in the worm compost.  The worms live around 4 to 5 years and takes about 3 to 4 days to get to the food at the top of the compost when they put a layer of new food on top to attract the worms away from the compost.  They cover the compost in plastic to keep out birds and to keep it moist.   

The beans are shipped to another location that is more sunny to dry in the sun for 2 weeks.

They produce 4,000 sacks and 44kios, 180 tons

They have 250 permanent workers and 600 temporary coffee pickers that live on the farm for 4 months from around November to March. The workers get free housing school and free medical care.  They have an onsite nurse.  The coffee costs about $7/lb in Nicaragua and they sell in bulk to Whole Foods for around $4 or $5/lb.  They plant their coffee trees such as banana pineapple, and avocados,  which the workers are also able to take for free.  

They also have around 60 cows and milk the cows by hand to make cheese.  they produce milk for around 20/25 years. 

While I have found most of the restaurants in Esteli to be disappointing I have at least been able to take advantage of some the fresh products.  Especially all the fresh dairy products.   

Mushrooms on a log in Tidey Reserve

Some pretty flowers in Tisey

Went to look at rock sculptures

Cacao beans as part of the process that is mostly by hand and with very few workers at the chocolate factory in Matagalpa

The view of Matagalpa from Selva Negra coffee farm

Batidos, making a banana eggnog shake with a scoop of ice cream and some spices

Half eggplant and half olive pizza, though my favorite was the two cheese (parm and mozza) pesto pizza with pinapple. 

Warm bananabread with pieces of chocolate we bought at the factory tour, topped with some cream mixed with brown sugar and rum