A dark vessel holds broken cacao. There is no sugar anywhere near it. The seed appears bitter, dry, faintly powdery; spice pulls it taut without making it culinary.
As it moves, the matter deepens: fermentation, bark, wood, the illusion of a dark leaf. Then combustion. Copal, wood and charcoal each burn in their own way. The fire does not dominate. It modifies.
What remains is an empty space: dry wood, dark resin, mineral and ash. The cacao can still be found, but it is no longer intact.
It is not chocolate. It is cacao before it became dessert.
