Tag Archive: cacao farms
Chocolate Chemistry
February 24, 2011
This is officially the International Year of Chemistry 2011 brought to you by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Chemistry is essential for our future and an improved quality standard of living for everyone.
What does this have to do with chocolate?
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Vietnam Cacao Production
January 20, 2011
Here's an update on cacao sourced from Vietnam...
Back in October of 2010, I wrote in my blog about the introduction of a limited edition of Scharffen Berger 72% Vietnamese single-origin chocolate bar.
Now, a Belgian chocolate manufacturer has launched the first ever, 100% Vietnamese chocolate available for wholesale, a new business-to-business operation.
Vietnam is new to cacao production. Plantations have had many setbacks over the years, but since 2005 the production has increased.
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Disturbing Cacao News
December 28, 2010
The instability of the government has fostered an active smuggling operation of cacao out of Ivory Coast and into neighboring Ghana.
It is being speculated that many thousands of metric tons of cocoa beans have been smuggled to Ghana from Ivory Coast since the harvest began in October.
I recently read a Bloomberg article updating the situation in the Ivory Coast. To jog your memory, a recent blog post of mine titled, Two Presidents of Ivory Coast, introduced the political situation in the largest cacao producing African country of Ivory Coast.
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Mars Company Receives Award
December 21, 2010
The maker of the Snickers bar, Mars, supports the Sustainable Tree Crops Program in Africa.
The program is based on a partnership with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the World Cocoa Foundation. The organizations invest in cacao research and distribute cacao tree seedlings to farmers in order to grow more disease resistant and higher crop-yielding trees.
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Two Presidents of Ivory Coast
December 10, 2010
The chocolate industries of the world have been watching the elections in Ivory Coast, Africa very closely. And the results are making some people nervous.
On December 4, 2010, both the incumbent and the challenger took the oath of office as president.
Laurent Gbagbo, the incumbent, was declared the winner by the Constitutional Council after rejecting the Electoral Commission’s vote count from the November 28 election. Gbagbo’s opponent, Alassane Ouattara, allegedly won the vote on that day but is accused of rigging the results in the northern states.
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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.
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Indonesian Chocolate is Toad-ally OK
September 28, 2010
The Sulawesian toad (Ingerophrynus celebensis) has hero status on cocoa farms in Indonesia.
German and Australian agriculture scientists have discovered the amphibian predator is eliminating a nasty pest to cocoa, the yellow crazy ant (Anoplolepis gracilipes).
The yellow crazy ants got their name from their color and their zigzag scurrying behavior. They are a non-native, invasive insect that can bring devastation to cacao crops. They nest in large supercolonies and have super appetites, too.
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Categories of Cocoa Beans
August 5, 2010
The chocolate world divides cocoa beans into two general categories: Flavor Beans (varieties Criollo or Trinitario) and Bulk Beans (variety Forestero).
The percentage of flavor beans in the total world production of cocoa beans is only around 5% per year. Virtually all the cocoa harvested is classified as bulk cocoa.
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