Saint Lucia, a.k.a. 'Paradise Island.'

[♥ Lily ♥]

St. Lucian Model Creates Line Of Nubian Barbie Dolls

Mala Bryan an international model originally from St.Lucia created her own line of Nubian dolls. The St.Lucian model found that black dolls were very expensive and decided to create her own more affordable collection.




Mala set out on an eight month long journey to create her collection of dolls called Malaville. In a recent interview with The Huffington Post, Bryan explained: “I made the decision to go ahead with the dolls because I could not find affordable kinky or curly haired black/brown dolls to add to my Barbie collection.”






“There are lots of adult doll collectors that would reroot black Barbie dolls with more natural hair but they are usually quite expensive… I notice[d] that there was a high demand for them so that was one of the main things I noted,” Bryan added.

The dolls come in different shades & hair textures as well as different outfits. “I believe that diverse representation is extremely important because children tend to associate their dolls with their playmate,”

[♥ Lily ♥]

Dark natural cocoa is rich in anxtioxidants making it a healthier choice to both milk chocolate and white chocolate.

Saint Lucia is proud to have a massive cocoa plantation producing the finest-quality cocoa for Hotel Chocolat.



Rabot Estate - Saint Lucia

Welcome to our world...

The setting of the Rabot Estate cocoa plantation is jaw-droppingly beautiful. In front of you the twin Piton peaks emerge symmetrically from the Caribbean Sea. Behind you the rainforest stretches into the distance, studded with the gigantic peaks of Mount Gimie and plunging valleys. Right behind you is the Soufrière volcano and Sulphur Springs.

The 140-acre Rabot Estate is in the South West of St Lucia, near Soufrière – the original French capital. The estate is divided up into 16 different cortès or areas of terroir, with evocative names steeped in history, such as L’Hermitage, Ti Jardin, Marcial, Mathilde and Rameau.

The rich and fertile volcanic soil, high altitude (c.1000ft above sea level) and rainforest water all create a unique environment (terroir), perfectly suited to cocoa production, in which our cocoa trees flourish.

How we came to buy the Rabot Estate

Growing our own cocoa is a dream come true for everyone at Hotel Chocolat and it all started with a book from a member of our Chocolate Tasting Club. Here's the story...

Michele Clare was tidying out her husband's office, when, under a dusty pile of books, she saw a 1920 copy of Cocoa & Chocolate, Their History from Plantation to Consumer. As a Tasting Club member, she immediately thought it would be of interest to Club Founder and Hotel Chocolat Chief Executive, Angus Thirlwell. She sent it off to him with the inscription, "I thought you might like to see this".

Angus Thirlwell recounts what happened next -
"I was just setting off on a trip to see my father, who lives in the West Indies, so slipped the book into my baggage. As a chocolate-obsessed person, I couldn't put it down once I'd started it. What I hadn't realised, and what I learned from the book, was how common it was for chocolatiers to make their own chocolate from the bean back in the 1920s and what an important cocoa-growing region the West Indies used to be.

Since then there have been huge changes - hardly any chocolatiers get involved in the bean any longer, buying all their chocolate ready made from specialist bean converters. And, unfortunately, cocoa growing has plummeted in the West Indies as bananas and tourism have taken its place. However, the beans from this part of the world are of high quality, primarily Trinitario.

I thought – why don't we grow our own cocoa and do the opposite of everyone else? And the prospect didn't just inspire and excite me - the whole company was behind it. After a long and thorough search, we found the beautiful but distressed estate in Saint Lucia. Co-founder Peter Harris and I raced over and, in the face of strong competition, signed contracts within a week to buy Rabot Estate, which had been in the same family since the 1930s. Contracts were finalised and Rabot Estate became ours in April 2006."

It's a bold move growing our own cocoa and it’s one that goes against the overall trend in the chocolate industry – to specialise more and more in a particular part of the chocolate making process. But Rabot Estate allows us to create a direct connection between our customers and the very the origin of chocolate, cocoa. We’re one of the very few in the world able to do this.



Cocoa Plantation

The 140-acre Rabot Estate is situated in the South West of Saint Lucia, near Soufriere - the original French capital. The estate is divided up into 16 different côtes or areas of terroir, with evocative names steeped in history, such as L’Hermitage, Ti Jardin, Marcial, Mathilde and Rameau. The rich and fertile volcanic soil, high altitude (c.1000ft above sea level) and rainforest water all combine to create a unique environment (terroir) that is perfectly suited to growing Hotel Chocolat’s fine and rare strains of cocoa.

Having turned around the fortunes of the estate, we are now spreading the regeneration through to local cocoa growers. So far, 140 of our Island Grower partners have joined our Cocoa Programme – whereby they benefit from advice and technical assistance; the supply of high quality Trinitario seedlings; and, crucially, a guaranteed market for their entire crops at prices above those of the world market.

The next stage of development for The Rabot Estate is to build a chocolate factory and start making chocolate using local ingredients and local labour. Making chocolate in Saint Lucia and exporting it to the UK is a reversal of the normal practice, which is to add all the value in Europe, giving only the value of the commodity to the cocoa growing economy. We will be training local people in chocolate making, using ingredients and creating a whole value chain around this new enterprise. We’ve already chosen our site and HRH Prince Charles kindly broke the ground during his latest visit to the island. So watch this space for more exciting developments.

Cocoa Growing



At the Hotel Chocolat cocoa plantation in St Lucia, we are currently able to farm, harvest, ferment and dry the cocoa beans. Once the conversion factory is built and running effectively, we will be able to convert the cocoa beans from our plantation and beans from other farms across the island.

Planting and Grafting

Whether it’s grown from a seed or grafted onto rootstock, cocoa is a fairly difficult tree to grow, which is why it is always nurtured as a seedling first, before being planted out on the farm. Even then they can’t be left to fend for themselves as cocoa is a fragile tree – needing both shade and sunshine, frequent rain and protection from winds, pests and diseases. All our new seedlings are created by grafting. It’s a process by which cuttings from our most prized trees can be grown on strong and productive rootstock. It is more expensive and time consuming than growing from seeds, but it allows us to control precisely which trees we propagate and get quicker yields.

We have worked with university experts to identify the DNA of the old and rare cocoa trees on our estate, which we then propagate to create new seedlings with which to repopulate and expand our historic estate.

If you visit us at our Hotel on Rabot Estate you can take part in the Tree to Bar Experience and see for yourself our seedlings nursery. You’ll be able to create your own seedling, which will be labelled and planted out – so you can go back and visit it!

Harvesting, Fermenting and Drying

Only about 1% to 3% of the delicate little cocoa flowers on a tree go on to produce cocoa pods. Unusually, pods grow direct from the trunk and main branches and they do it throughout the year, taking about six months to grow into mature pods. We harvest twice a year – the main one happens between November and February and there’s a smaller one between April and June.

The pods are picked when they’re ripe and left to rest for three or so days, after which they are ‘cracked’ (chopped open with great skill using sharp machetes). The empty pods are used as organic fertiliser around the estate while the seeds and pulp are scooped out and placed in wooden boxes in the fermentation shed. It’s a crucial, seven-day process by which the beans undergo a chemical reaction and the foundations of future chocolate flavours are laid. We turn the box every two days using wooden cocoa paddles, gathering temperature data at each turn – the beans can reach 50ºC. After seven days, the beans are turned out onto trays to dry in the warm Saint Lucian sun. At Rabot Estate and elsewhere in the West Indies, our drying trays are on runners so they can be pushed under cover as you never know when the next tropical shower might come along. Recently, we have also started to protect our beans from the hottest part of the sun to avoid burning or over-drying them by putting them in the shade between midday and 2pm.

Manufactory



It all started with a Royal Visit

We're very proud to announce that on Friday 7th March, Rabot Estate played host to a royal visit from HRH The Prince of Wales. Prince Charles, together with the Duchess of Cornwall, visited the island to reinforce Britain’s ties as well as to promote sustainable development, environmental protection and youth opportunity.

On arrival at the plantation, Angus Thirlwell and Peter Harris, Co-founders of Hotel Chocolat, invited him to cut the first ground at the site of our chocolate factory to be built among the cocoa trees. The Prince was then shown around the estate, given a demonstration in the art of grafting cocoa seedlings and invited to taste our single estate and single origin St Lucian chocolate.

Chocolate Factory

The building of a chocolate factory in St Lucia was of particular interest to Prince Charles as it turns normal industry practice on its head. Usually, it is only the commodity crop, cocoa beans, that is exported with all of the value being added in an industrialised nation. This factory will allow us to create value on the island of St Lucia by exporting the finished product, St Lucian chocolate.

Local grower, John Modeste, who already supplies Hotel Chocolat with cocoa, was there to share the excitement as the Prince cut the first earth, "Hotel Chocolat has breathed new life into cocoa growing. Now I know I have a dependable market for my cocoa and am paid a fair price, promptly. In fact I am planting more cocoa and have taken on extra workers to help harvest as much as I can".

Encouraging

Angus, who spent half an hour showing the Prince around, said he had some encouraging things to say, "His Royal Highness was kind enough to say that he was aware at first hand of the difficulties of making an ethical project like this work and that he was impressed with our progress so far.

He also said he that he was very interested in coming back to see chocolate being made here, once the factory is up and running. And, although not a big chocolate eater, he did express a preference for our 72% St Lucia chocolate. In fact, the Prince left with a small supply for himself and made sure that he took some for the Duchess of Cornwall too!"

Single Côte



First In The World To Present Single Côte Chocolate

We're proud to be the world’s first chocolatier and cocoa grower to present a single côte chocolate; The Rabot Estate Marcial 70% dark

Not just single origin (from one country), or even single estate, we've gone deeper into the world of cocoa and produced single côte. From our own plantation in Soufriere, Saint Lucia, the cocoa has been kept separate as it is picked and fermented from each côte (terroir section) within the estate. This particular côte, Marcial, is a beautiful part of the estate near the Rabot lake, with a mix of grizzled 80-100 year-old trees and fresh new four-year-old trees planted as seedlings, all bearing the rare Trinitarios bean unique to the Rabot Estate. This year’s result is a broodingly powerful chocolate tablet with notes of shiraz wine, antique oak, roasted cocoa and stewed spiced plums.

Just like a fine wine, the terroir, fermentation techniques and plant type itself are the major influencers of flavour. An estimated 80% of the flavour potential of the chocolate is locked into the bean by the time it leaves the cocoa plantation.

Rabot Estate, single côte Marcial is part of our Rabot 1745 range. The boutique collection houses only rare, fine flavour cocoa from the world’s most sought after growing regions. There are 18 different chocolate tablets, each with a distinct character and flavour nuance. The batch label includes the length of time it was roasted and conched, the name of the individual chocolatier who created it and the year of harvest - reflecting the continual changes made depending what nature provides each time. Every single harvest is fully evaluated before deciding which recipe will really do justice to it.

Angus Thirlwell, CEO and Co-founder, Hotel Chocolat, said: “At Hotel Chocolat we are always looking for original ways to submerge guests into our world of cocoa and unite them with the flavours of the plantation simply, authentically and ethically. I am incredibly proud to be able to say that we planted, grew, harvested, fermented, dried, shipped, roasted, winnowed, conched, tempered, packed and retailed what we believe to be the world’s first single côte chocolate.

We are one of the few chocolate makers in the world who actually grow our own cocoa, and have created a blueprint for sustainable cocoa growing on the island of Saint Lucia. As growers and producers we have been able to bridge the vast disconnect between raw agriculture and fine chocolate, marrying our expertise in both areas to make some of the world’s rarest, most sought after cocoa beans into fine chocolate.”

Tree to Bar Experience



An amazing experience...

If you'd like to get out and explore your surroundings, there's a wide range of experiences for you – from gentle, self-guided strolls through our cocoa groves, to climbing the Pitons and exciting sea adventures! Can be pre-booked or booked on your arrival.Or try our signature experience…

Please be aware that the terrain at Rabot Estate is potentially dangerous for children (high elevation, steep inclines, rocks). We welcome children on our experiences and restaurant but must insist that they are not allowed to run around without parental supervision.

Unique only to the Rabot Estate, and drawing on our expertise as a chocolatier as well as a grower, the Tree to Bar is an exclusive opportunity for guests to create their own chocolate! The Tree to Bar experience starts with guests walking on the estate cocoa groves selecting ripe cacao pods cut from the tree, and ends with making their own chocolate bar from beans that guests have roasted themselves. The tour includes all the stages in between: seedling nursery, fermenting room, sun-drying station, grinding, mixing and lots of tasting!

Available: Monday - Friday except bank holidays
Start time: 9.00am (includes 1 hour nursery tour + 1 hour of chocolate making)
All tours need to be pre-booked
External guests: Please ring our Front Desk team to make a booking- 758 572 9600/9601
Internal guests can book on arrival
More info here. http://www.hotelchocolat.com/uk/rabo...bar-experience

[♥ Lily ♥]

[♥ Lily ♥]

Unlocking the mystery of Jade Mountain.



Diamond Waterfall Botanical Gardens

[GiCa]

It looks like a really nice jewel

[♥ Lily ♥]

[♥ Lily ♥]

I think this tropical island looks like a beautiful gem.

[Dominicanese]

[CENTER][I][FONT=Book Antiqua][SIZE=3][COLOR="#008080"]Unlocking the mystery of Jade Mountain.

Diamond Waterfall Botanical Gardens

youv been?

iv only been to saint lucia once

[♥ Lily ♥]

youv been?

iv only been to saint lucia once

No, it looks beautiful but I tend to be heliophobic and avoid hot sunny places due to having sensitive skin that burns easily in the sun.

I guess I could go there if I took a sun parasol, sun-hat, and high level sunblock, and sat somewhere out of the very strong sunlight in those tropical islands, and kept myself somewhere in the cool shade and away from the sun.

My son's father visits some of his relatives there each year though and has previously shown me lovely pictures and video recordings of the place.

I guess you're lucky that you don't burn and can probably tan easily?

[Dominicanese]

No, it looks beautiful but I tend to be heliophobic and avoid hot sunny places due to having sensitive skin that burns easily in the sun.

I guess I could go there if I took a sun parasol, sun-hat, and high level sunblock, and sat somewhere out of the very strong sunlight in those tropical islands, and kept myself somewhere in the cool shade and away from the sun.

My son's father visits some of his relatives there each year though and has previously shown me lovely pictures and video recordings of the place.

I guess you're lucky that you don't burn and can probably tan easily?

its actually not that bad over there when it comes to sun, all of the caribbean is the same (tropical & sunny with same temp) but it is very windy and lots of trees everywhere so you will be safe from sun always and yes thats usually what alot a tourists do, they wear said attire to protect from sun, but you dont need all that, with sun block you will be ok or sun-screan

and im actually not good with tanning that much lol, im very pale in relation to my pheno (thick lips & semi wide nose from ssa) so i can still burn if i dont protect myself, im originally from the mountains in DR, not from the coast, in the town that i was born and raised in is basically a forest and farmland and very high altitude (yes im a mountain man lol) but my brother is dark and he tans well, so he doesnt have any problems with that i assume, but as i said before iv been to the beaches all over the caribbean islands, trust me, you will be fine. As a matter of fact the saharan desert and the European mediterranian is alot worse than the caribbean, iv been and also the spanish user "Barbaro" who lives in southern spain tells me the tempature and problem with heat over there that we dont have here in the tropics at all.

typical temp for caribbean is 70-80 degrees F, never really higher than that. Trust me its safe

its only bad for the ppl working in the fields lol, but u wont be doing that