India GoGround Organic Cacao Cocoa Beans 1kg

Region and Country

Manayathadom and Kaithappara, Kerala, India

Story

The British East India Company brought Criollo cocoa beans to present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala from Indonesia. In 1947, the Indian government launched a project with Cadbury to expand cocoa in the country and developed more productive clones based on Amazonian genotypes from Malaysia. Production peaked in the 70’s and after the market prices dropped significantly in the 90’s, only a few plantations continued producing cocoa.

Go Ground was founded in 2015 by Luca Beltrami and Ellen Taerwe. The company sources cocoa directly from around 200 small-scale farmers in the Malabar Forest area. Go Ground maintains close contact with the farmers and supports them in improving their agricultural practices. Experienced cocoa farmers are invited to teach grafting/budding techniques.

Farmers in the area typically grow cacao along with coconut and betel trees. This lot is organic certified.

Harvest

September – January (main crop) April – June (mid-crop)

Genetics

CCRP and CPCRI clones based on Amazonian genotypes

Post Harvesting Process

Fermentation and drying takes place in a central processing unit in Udumbannoor. The beans are fermented in wooden boxes for a period of 5-7 days. After fermentation, the beans are sun dried on tables under open shelters to avoid dust and contamination, where the moisture level of the beans is brought back to below 8%.

Flavour

Light acidic, full flavour profile starting with sun ripened mango, tastes of wood & cashews followed by butter and a slight flowery finish.