WHERE THE CHOCOLATE GROWS ON TREES

I haven't found a place yet where the proverbial money grows on trees, but I think I found the next best thing that does -- chocolate. Now you're probably picturing chocolate bars hanging from tree branches, but it's actually the cocoa pods that I'm talking about.

On a recent trip to Venezuela, I had the opportunity to tour cocoa plantations. Walking through the rows of cocoa trees that were protected by the green umbrella shade of large leafy trees, reminded me of walking along the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C., during cherry blossom season. Rather than being covered by a blanket of blossoms, I was surrounded by a jungle of chocolate. Granted, it's chocolate in its raw, unprocessed cocoa pod state, but it's still a forest of chocolate-to-be.

Cocoa trees require a hot tropical climate with abundant rainfall and thrive within 10 latitude of the equator. Located around this latitude and possessing a wet tropical climate, Venezuela has a long history of cocoa farming.

Cocoa pods look downright comical as they grow right out of the trunk or branch of the cocoa tree. The pods look as if someone has glued small, elongated pumpkins to the trees. Although October to January and April to May are the peak harvest months, cocoa pods can be harvested all year long. The same tree will have cocoa blossom flowers and cocoa pods in all of the shades of green, yellow, orange and brown that they go through to reach maturity.

Cocoa harvesting is a hands-on operation. After the pods are cut from the tree, they're brought to a central location on the plantation. One man chops the end from each cocoa pod with a whack of his machete. He throws the opened pods to workers nearby who use a type of wooden spoon to scoop out the cocoa beans with the sticky white pulp that surrounds them. It takes only one machete worker to keep four men busy scooping.

The empty pods are thrown into a huge pile to be composted so they can return to the trees as fertilizer. Bees buzz around the sweet, sticky, pulp-covered beans -- they know what's good. There is a sweet odor in the air, but not a hint of chocolate.

The beans are transferred indoors to bins to ferment for several days. The air in the fermenting rooms is thick and smells like a winery, but not of chocolate. During this process the sticky white pulp dissolves and the cocoa beans begin developing more complex flavors.

After fermenting, the beans are spread out on a large wooden platform to dry. If it rains, the entire platform can be rolled under the building to keep the beans dry. When dry, the cocoa beans look like large, elongated, dark brown coffee beans. Finally, these dry beans give off a faint odor of chocolate. The dry beans are sized, graded and shipped from these jungle plantations to factories around the world to be processed into dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate and cocoa powder for all manner of desserts.

BLACK AND WHITE BROWNIES

Dark chocolate flavors part of a white chocolate brownie batter to produce these black-and-white swirled fudge brownies.

6 ounces (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

10 ounces white chocolate, chopped, such as Lindt

2 tablespoons water

3 large eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup flour

1 ounce unsweetened chocolate, melted

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted

Place butter, white chocolate and water in large heatproof container set over, but not touching, saucepan of barely simmering water. Stir mixture over hot water until butter and chocolate are melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

Beat eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla on medium speed until thickened and lightened in color, about 1 minute. On low speed, mix in melted white chocolate mixture. Stir in flour just until incorporated. Reserve 1 cup batter and pour remaining batter into buttered 13x9x2-inch baking pan.

Stir melted semisweet and unsweetened chocolate together, then stir into reserved batter. Pour 3 strips of dark batter along length of white batter. Draw thin metal spatula gently through batter to swirl the 2 colors together until top is marbleized.

Bake at 325 degrees about 23 minutes, just until wood pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool brownies in pan, about 1 hour. Makes 16 to 20 brownies.

RASPBERRY AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE

This elegant pie has a white chocolate cream filling topped with fresh raspberries. The filling is a mixture of white chocolate melted in warm cream that is then whipped with cold cream.

Crust:

1 1/2 cups chocolate wafer cookie crumbs

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for pan

Filling:

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces white chocolate, chopped, such as Lindt

1 1/4 cups cold whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon amaretto or other almond-flavored liqueur, optional

2 cups fresh raspberries

To prepare Crust, mix cookie crumbs and 1/4 cup melted butter, combining well. Press mixture evenly over inside of buttered 10-inch pie pan. Bake at 325 degrees 6 minutes. Set aside to cool.

To prepare Filling, heat cream and butter in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until cream is hot and butter melts. Do not let mixture boil. Remove from heat. Add chopped white chocolate and let soften in hot cream mixture about 30 seconds. Stir until smooth and all of white chocolate is melted. Refrigerate until cool to touch and it has thickened but has not become firm, about 30 minutes.

Beat cold cream, vanilla, amaretto and cooled white chocolate mixture in large bowl on high speed until firm peaks form. Spread white chocolate cream evenly over prepared crust. Place raspberries evenly over top. Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight. Makes 8 servings.

MOCHA CHIPS

Miniature chocolate chips and instant coffee produce the mocha flavor in these butter cookies. Using instant coffee that is not dissolved gives the cookies a distinct coffee and chocolate flavor.

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon instant coffee granules

2 cups flour

1 cup (6 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and salt in large bowl on medium speed until smooth and fluffy, about 1 minute. Mix in instant coffee. On low speed, add flour, mixing until incorporated and smooth dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips.

Divide dough into 3 pieces. Form each piece into log about 7 inches long and 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours or up to 2 days until cold and firm.

Use large sharp knife to cut dough rolls into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place cookies 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees about 14 minutes, reversing sheets top to bottom and back to front after 8 minutes of baking. (Edges and bottoms of cookies will be golden.) Cool cookies 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. (Cookies may be stored in sealed container, preferably metal tin, at room temperature up to 3 days.) Makes about 42 cookies.

(Elinor Klivans is the author of ``125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor,'' Broadway Books, 1998.)

(c) 2000, Elinor Klivans. Distributed by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate.

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Author: Elinor Klivans