Cocoa pod

Cocoa pod

A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough, leathery rind about 2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.18 in) thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod) filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp (called baba de cacao in South America) with a lemonade-like taste enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are fairly soft and a pale lavender to dark brownish purple color. Due to heat buildup in the fermentation process, cacao beans lose most of the purplish hue and become mostly brown in color, with an adhered skin which includes the dried remains of the fruity pulp. This skin is released easily after roasting by winnowing . White seeds are found in some rare varieties, usually mixed with purples, and are considered of higher value.  Historically, white cacao was cultivated by the Rama people of Nicaragua .

Varieties

Three main varieties of cocoa: Criollo, Trinitario and Forastero

The three main varieties of cocoa plant are Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario. The first is the most widely used, comprising 95% of the world production of cocoa. Cocoa beans of the Criollo variety are rarer and considered a delicacy.  Criollo plantations have lower yields than those of Forastero, and also tend to be less resistant to several diseases that attack the cocoa plant, hence very few countries still produce it. One of the largest producers of Criollo beans is Venezuela (Chuao and Porcelana). Trinitario (from
Trinidad ) is a hybrid between Criollo and Forastero varieties. It is considered to be of much higher quality than Forastero, but has higher yields and is more resistant to disease than Criollo.

Harvesting

Cocoa trees grow in hot, rainy tropical areas within 20° of latitude from the Equator .[18] Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one period per year and a harvest typically occurs over several months. In fact, in many countries, cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year.  Pesticides are often applied to the trees to combat capsid bugs and fungicides to fight black pod disease .

Immature cocoa pods have a variety of colours, but most often are green, red, or purple, and as they mature, their colour tends towards yellow or orange, particularly in the creases.Unlike most fruiting trees, the cacoa pod grows directly from the trunk or large branch of a tree rather than from the end of a branch, similar to jackfruit . This makes harvesting by hand easier as most of the pods will not be up in the higher branches. The pods on a tree do not ripen together; harvesting needs to be done periodically through the year. Harvesting occurs between three and four times weekly during the harvest season.
The ripe and near-ripe pods, as judged by their colour, are harvested from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree with a curved knife on a long pole. Care must be used when cutting the stem of the pod to avoid damaging the junction of the stem with the tree, as this is where future flowers and pods will emerge. One person can harvest an estimated 650 pods per day.