From Tree to Bean

When you have a chocolate craving, where do you go?

To the store (or internet store) of course, where there is a seemingly endless variety of chocolate products to sate your desires. But where does that chocolate come from?

The production of chocolate is a long, complex and fascinating process. The journey of chocolate creation begins with the 'chocolate tree', Theobroma cacao. This tree species is native to the Northwestern Amazon, and for millions of years this is the only region in the world where this tree species grew. Our cacao is directly imported from small farms in Ecuador, the region where T. cacao is native and which harbors the world's highest diversity of cacao varieties. Here is how the cacao in our chocolates begins its life at Finca Sueños.

Planting a tree is an exercise in optimism for the future. It will be several years until a T. cacao seedling like the one in this photo has grown enough to produce harvestable fruit (cacao pods).

All of the trees at Finca Sueños are Nacional 'fino de aroma', and many are a part of The Heirloom Cacao project. This project is working to conserve Ecuador's rare cacao varieties while also characterizing their genetic diversity and their diverse flavor characteristics.

After several years of growth, cacao trees produce tiny, white flowers on their stems and branches.

These flowers are pollinated by diminuitive flies called midges (in the subfamily Forcipomyiinae), although some other small insects may also contribute to pollination. Look closely and you will see a tiny brown fly on the flower petal in this photo!

A small cacao pod surrounded by open flowers

Once insects have fertilized the flowers by carrying pollen from one flower to another, the fruit (a cacao pod) begins to develop

The pods take several months to develop, and will be 6-10 inches long and approximately 1 pound when they are mature. The pod is ready for harvest when it turns from green to yellow, orange or red. The diverse types of Cacao Nacional at Finca Sueños turn a variety of colors when they are ready for harvest.

Leo Moreno, the farm manager at Finca Sueños, displaying a ripe cacao pod ready for harvest

The mature pods are split open with a machete, revealing the seeds encased in a sweet, white pulp

The pulp and seeds are removed from the pods and collected in a bucket. Other crops on this diversified organic farm, such as bananas and oranges, are often gathered at the same time that cacao is harvested

Fungal diseases are the most important threats to cacao production in Ecuador. One disease, Frosty Pod Rot caused by the fungus Moniliophthora roreri, can cause losses as high as 80% of the total yield. All types of Cacao Nacional are very susceptible, and the only controls available are manual removal of infected pods.

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