Got back this week from a family trip to Costa Rica. On the Caribbean side, south of Limon in the area of the town of Puerto Viejo de Talamanca is a lovely farm/botanical garden owned by one of our forum members. We had the pleasure to tour the farm and Peter was very generous with his time to show us around. What a beautiful property he has. Many gigantic specimen trees, fruit trees, ornamentals and herbs are everywhere. Peter has his own little gourmet chocolate production going on. We got to see his little chocolate laboratory with his three concher machines making some of the most delicious chocolates we encountered in Costa Rica. Peter is experimenting with various herbal infusions for his organically grown and produced chocolates and that makes them all the more interesting, unique and delicious.
June is not the best month to visit if you are seeking peak fruit production, but I am happy to say that I have finally had a salak fruit that I could actually enjoy and didn't cause me extreme astringency puckering. The fruits Peter shared with us were not absolutely dead ripe, but they were close enough to allow me to taste the true potential of the fruit. I take back everything bad I have ever said about the salak palm....well except that I still hate the thorns.
Tasted a number of fruits I have never tried. Most of these were sour fruits with excellent juice/jam making potential. We were able to buy some really excellent organically grown vanilla seed pods, great black peppercorns, coffee, nutmeg and of course, a good sampling of fantastic chocolate. If you find yourself on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica, a visit to Finca La Isla is a must. Thanks so much again, Peter. It was a pleasure to meet you.
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Topic: Costa Rica.........visit to Finca La Isla (Read 6471 times)