Grown In Dominican Republic - Cacao - Cocoa

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Cacao/ Cocoa the cocoa we all know and love either hot, cold or made into wonderful sweet goodies and even liquors. Almost everyone loves chocolate in some form or another.

Cacao is a tall tropical tree that can reach 4 to 12 meter height; the cacao tree produces more or less 150 fruits every year. These fruits are long oval pods called cacao pods. The pod color varies from yellow to orange. Inside this pod are an average of about thirty cocoa beans. A white glutinous pulp covers each bean and is quite tasty when you pop it into your mouth and suck on it. This pulp leads to the first fermentation when placed in the sun to dry. You can see these beans drying in many places in the country, even along country streets laid out on tarpaulins or in large covered beds. They are constantly being moved to get them to dry. Then they are picked over to clear out the inferior beans. These dry beans are then cleaned, roasted and crushed into a powder. When you pass by cacao drying you can get the sent of the aromatic bean drying in the sun. With each step the smell gets more intense.

Dominican Republic is the perfect place for the cultivation and development of cacao because of the rich, fertile soil and the favorable climate. Individual farmers and large corporations grow cacao trees alike. The best cocoa beans in the country are grown in the Cibao Valley, San Francisco de Macoris, and Santiago. Dominican Republic produces two types of cocoa beans, the Hispaniola (about 4% production) and the Sanchez (about 96% production) varieties.

Cocoa beans/ Cacao is a very nutrient rich and complex food. Cacao is considered by some experts to be the best antioxidant food and has the highest source of magnesium of any food. The chocolate contains A1, B1, C, D, E vitamins and iron. The cacao beans are used to produce cocoa butter used in many cosmetic applications. The Aztecs considered the cacao tree as a paradise tree.

Dominican Republic is currently one of the chief producers of organic cocoa in the world when they started marketing their product as early as the 1980's.

You can tour a Cacao farm www.tourdechocolate.com or www.nazariorizek.com