On this trip this week where I experienced the pigus and the garfish
empanadas, I also visited a chocolate plantation (hacienda).

I ate a lot of chocolate, in one way or another when in Tabasco
(including a chocolate sauce/mole' combo served on a rack of lamb) and
also ate
some abuelita before using it to make hot chocolate. Didn't bring any
of it back, though. I did bring back some Cacep brand chocolates
(smooth and in candy bar format) as gifts, but was somewhat surprised
at the lightness of what this particular hacienda and factory (Hacienda

Jesus Maria, near Comalcalco) marks as "dark chocolate". It's
delicious and smooth, but a little closer to what we would normally
label as "milk chocolate". I enjoyed plucking a cacao pod off of a
tree and sucking the sweet pulp off of the raw beans inside before
processing. I also tried a couple of roasted beans and they weren't
too different from roasted coffee beans.

Jack