Cacao Grown in Fiji
November 23, 2010
There is small chocolate company revitalizing cacao and chocolate production in Fiji.
Adi Chocolate Fiji, is located on the island of Vanua Levu. They make chocolate using two crops grown on the island; Trinitario cacao beans and raw cane sugar.
The owners of the company fell in love with chocolate while running a restaurant and serving homemade chocolate ice cream. In 2007, they began making dark chocolates from their native Fiji cacao.
The British brought Trinitario cacao beans to the islands in 1880, planting the original variety on Vanua Levu. For a while, cacao farmers in Fiji thrived but when other crops, like cassava and taro, became more profitable, cacao was abandoned. The forgotten cacao trees are still there, but have been hidden among the overgrown rain forest.
Adi Chocolate Fiji has worked hard to restore cacao farming. With a lot of back breaking hard work and the help of mother nature, cacao trees are coming back to life.
Processing chocolate has its challenges on the island. Road conditions sometimes prevent getting the harvested cacao to market. Heavy rains and hurricanes damage trees and cause mud slides, delaying the fermentation and drying stages. Still, the farmers and Adi company manage to turn about 60 kg of beans into chocolate every 2 weeks.
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