CACOA TREES
Chocolate comes from cacao trees. The official name of the cacao tree is Theobroma
cacao, and the trees are grown in tropical regions in Central America, South America,
West Africa, and Southeast Asia approximately 10 to 20 degrees latitude on either side of
the equator.
There are three main types of trees including Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario.
Criollo trees are the rarest and produce the highest quality cocoa with exceptional flavor.
The beans are less bitter and have a buttery taste.
Forastero are hardier trees and are the most common. They comprise approximately 90
percent of the world’s cacao bean production. The beans produced from the Forastero
tree have a strong flavor.
Trinitario is a hybrid of the Criollo and the Forastero trees and grows in Trinidad.
Cacao trees typically produce pods by the fifth year, and continue to produce pods for
over thirty years. The cacao pods grow on the trunks and branches of the trees and
resemble the shape of a football. Harvesting cacao pods is very labor intensive. The pods
are collected by hand and are split open with machetes to remove the cocoa beans. Each
pod contains approximately twenty to fifty seeds (beans). After the beans are removed
from the pods, they go through a two-part curing process-fermentation and drying. The
beans are covered with banana leaves and heated naturally by the sun or placed on heated
trays to ferment. Fermentation lasts five to eight days and removes the bitter taste. During
the fermentation process, the beans turn brown and are ready for drying.
The brown cocoa beans are placed on trays to dry in the sun. The drying process usually
takes one week, and the beans are turned frequently to check for flat or broken beans.
After the beans are dried, they are packaged and shipped to chocolate processing plants.