Chapter 133
I, who carried the Kaoka pods decided to immediately borrow an area in the Ruven House’s kitchen .
「N~ the processing of Cacao, huh~……」
I don’t exactly know the correct way to make chocolate from cacao beans .
I have received five Kaoka pods in total from Stefan-san .
「I have to assume that I’m going to waste one or two of them……」
The process that comes to mind first is to roast and grind them?
Even if there are more fine details to the process, I can’t be sure that Earth-san’s Cacao beans are the same as Aetherdia-san’s Kaoka beans .
「Let’s open them first?」
I can’t progress without seeing the contents of the Kaoka first . While I was thinking such, Allen and Elena shook with the Kaoka .
「This, it rattle, rattles~」
「Amu~sing!」
A rattling sound resounded from the pods when shaken, almost like Maracas .
「Allen, Elena, you look like you are having fun, but it’s still food, so let’s not play with it, okay?」
「「Can’t play~?」」
「I would like if you didn’t~」
「「…… N~ got it~」」
When I amiably cautioned them, Allen and Elena obediently returned the Kaoka pods .
「Thank you . Well then, let’s open it」
「「Un」」
Then, opening one of the Kaoka pods, many 500 yen coin brown beans were packed inside . There’s about thirty to forty of them . N~ were Cacao beans like this?
To be honest, I have no recollection…… no, I feel like it was wrapped in something white? They are normally lined up in the pod, aren’t they? But, the beans are just casually scattered around the Kaoka pod . No wonder it rattles when shaken~
Well, let’s wash it and make it clean first .
「《Washing》」
I cleaned the beans with magic and started processing them right away .
「This is, a shell…… right?」
I realized that the brown outer layer is a shell and the black nib inside is what I want .
I pinched the shell between my fingers and crisply peeled it off . I tried bitting the bit I peeled off just in case, but it was a shell after all .
「「Munch」」
「Ah!」
「「Ngu」」
Allen and Elena imitated me and placed the shells in their mouths . Only, unlike me who just took a bite, the children were intending to eat it!
「Allen, Elena! That’s not for eating, quickly spit it out!」
I urged them to spit it out in panic .
「「Not de~lish」」
Ueh~ Allen and Elena grimaced after spitting out the shells .
Though I am at fault for putting it in my mouth in front of the two――
「Geez~ Your Oniichan has just taken a bite, it’s not like I ate it~」
「「Uu~ but~」」
「I will properly give the delicious thing to Allen and Elena, so don’t try to eat out of your own accord anymore, okay?」
「「…… Yesss~」」
As it really wasn’t good at all, the two replied dejectedly .
「Err, what…… do I do next? Do I roast it after all?」
Pulling myself together, I imagined that the next step of the process would be to roast it, so I decided to try roasting half of the peeled beans .
When I did so, I smelled a faint Cacao-ish fragrance .
「Oh, what a nice smell」
「「Nice smell~ is done~?」」
「Not yet~ this will be very bitter if eaten as is~」
「「Muu~」」
The two held out their hands as if saying ‘please give’ but unfortunately for them, it’s not in an edible sate yet . When I told them so, the two unwillingly withdrew their hands .
「This much should be fine? Next is――」
Next, I ground it until it was muddy and mixed it with sugar and milk .
「…… Something like this? But, something feels wrong, doesn’t it~」
And it’s done! I don’t have the confidence to declare so…… unfortunately, I can’t say that it doesn’t feel like a disaster . I mean, it’s too thick for it to be considered a melted chocolate!
「Done~?」
「Is done~?」
「I wonder? Let’s try giving it a taste」
「「Yaay~」」
It’s no use being troubled here, so I decided to give it a lick .
Allen and Elena were delighted as they were waiting for this .
「「Uniyu~」」
「Whoa! That’s terrible grotesque~~~」
The moment I put it in my mouth, I was assaulted by extreme uncomfortableness .
The taste, well it did taste like a chocolate, but…… the texture was gritty, and the melt-in-the-mouth was horrible too .
「This is a complete failure~」
I have to be more thorough with the grinding . As for the melt-in-the-mouth…… I, unfortunately, have no idea .
「「Is delish~ you know~?」」
「Ah~ that’s because Allen and Elena don’t know what a genuine chocolate is~」
Allen and Elena looked at me with expressions that asked「Why?」 .
I see . People who don’t know what the real chocolate is would find this tasty, huh……
However, as for me, I can’t accept it . What do I do…… ah, would Cocoa be easier? Cocoa is errm…… was it made from pressing(?) ground powder?
Huh…… pressing? That means I need to press it somehow?
Umm…… what is Cacao beans used for in the first place…… chocolate and Cocoa . Also, cocoa mass? …… No, cocoa mass = cacao beans, was it?
Then, what is made from pressing cocoa mass again~? Well, first of all, I decided to roast the remaining Cacao beans and try making Cocoa .
「Huh?」
When I tried pressing it, something greasy came out .
Err…… what is this? Cacao oil? Ah, what if I added this to the pseudo-chocolate I made a little while ago?
「No, no, let’s complete the Cocoa first!」
After reprimanding myself, I pressed the powder . Well~ I managed to do the compression and drying with magic, so the labor was quite easy~ If I had to do all of this manually, then I would definitely end up giving up~
「Oh, doesn’t this look good?」
I safely finished something that looked like Cocoa .
Next, I tried adding the Cacao oil into that thing from before and tried making chocolate . The result, it still has a way to go, but it’s a lot better than before .
As for me, I am still dissatisfied with this “chocolate” but Allen and Elena find it delicious so I decided to call it complete . I’m going to improve it little by little when I have the time . Well, I can mix it things and it’s sufficient for a chocolate drink, so it will be probably used like that .