Growing Cacao to Create Chocolate

In the earliest years of cacao


harvesting, the peoples grew the


trees in small stands near water,


and left the trees mostly grow


naturally. Cacao trees prefer


growing in the shade of other


trees, not to be protected from


the sun, but because this creates


the perfect home for midges,


(gnats) which are the only way


cacao is pollinated. The natural


litter and debris on the floor of


the rain forests (leaf trash,


animal carcasses and rotten cacao


pods) are the ideal breeding


ground for the midge. These


things are missing in the well


maintained grounds of the modern


plantation; therefore the


production of the cacao tree is


much lower with only 1 to 3


percent of the pods producing


seeds.


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After pollination, each of the


flowers growing from the trunk and


larger branches of the trees,


produce a pod, each of these large


pods contains 30 or 40 of the seed


or beans. The pods surround the


seeds with a sweet, juicy pulp


that the tree has no way to open


so the seeds can be dispersed. In


nature this dispersion is


accomplished by rodents (rats,


monkeys and squirrels) on the


plantations this is accomplished


by human hands. Alkaloids make


the sees bitter, so this is not


what attracts the rodents, they


are attracted to the pulp


surrounding the seeds, and this


pulp is probably what first


attracted humans to the pods as


well.


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The pods take four or five months


to reach maturity and another


month to ripen, the pollination


process with the cacao tree occurs


throughout the year with two


harvest times. The pods will


remain fresh on the trunk for


several weeks and remain usable


for another week after they are


harvested. Modern techniques


allow for continuous harvesting,


but must be done with care not to


damage the cushions that the pods


grow from; allowing them to


produce more flowers and pods.


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Thank you,


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About The Author, Carmen Sandago
C. SanDago used to be an office and motel cleaner earning minimum wage on a contract by contract basis, working very hard to make ends meet. Being forced to stay at home after her baby, she says it was like a "visit from an angel"... She had to find a way to earn a living from home... with no pedigree, a high school dropout it was like a live changing event! Today she makes in excess of $80,000 a month and enjoys an extraordinary life! She considers herself extremely fortunate to have found the right business to give her such break in life!