Belmont Estate is a beautiful spot that is 17 miles away from where we are staying. It’s an easy one hour drive mostly along the Eastern shore through Grenville, the second largest town in Grenada. We had lunch reservations at 12:30. I was pretty sure that traffic would be light with most people at church. That proved to be correct. The only exception was when an enormous flatbed truck came tearing around a curve. I just stopped and hoped he had enough room to pass. The twisting narrow roads are challenging. It’s best to drive slowly.
We arrived at Belmont Estate with a little time to walk around. Although coffee and then nutmeg were major crops in the past, the estate now focuses on high quality chocolate.
The staff are all Seventh day Adventists. We looked up the origin of the religion. They observe a Saturday sabbath and kosher food laws although they are an evangelical Christian sect. Go figure.
Lunch is served in a large open room with extremely polite and well groomed servers. After an appetizer, the meal was a buffet with chicken cooked in cinnamon, banana fish pie, pigeon peas, rice and salads. Desert choices included a chocolate cake which was topped with candied sorrel, a red flower which is used for drinks and sweets.
After lunch, we joined the chocolate tour. The facility is quite small. Apparently, their chocolate is sold to various companies to be blended to improve quality. Kathleen had the opportunity to “walk the beans” which is an old process used to help dry and polish them after a week of fermentation. The old method of drying the beans in the sun on trays outside has been replaced by solar greenhouses which are functional even when the usual downpours pass through. We saw the small processing area that turned the nibs that were collected from the cracked open beans into chocolate. Of course they sold chocolate bars.
The drive back was easy. Sunset looking out over the pool and the ridge beyond was spectacular. One more day…
The Adventures of Anne 