Harvesting is done by hand ... DAN O’DOHERTY photo CEO and founder Dr. Gunars Valkirs harvests a cacao pod by hand. -- NAINOA MOORE photo Cacao flowers are delicate and beautiful along ...

The difficulty of harvesting cacao pods from the rain forest and processing the seeds into the paste that was the basis for the chocolate, and its stimulating effect, elevated the drink to the ...

Harvesting cacao fruit requires lots of experience as pods, whether on the same tree or between varieties, mature at ...

The crop — the raw, unprocessed form of cocoa beans — has two primary harvest periods in Western ... it takes about five to six months for the pods to mature. Once ripe, the pods are harvested ...

Volunteers separate seeds and pulp from halved cacao pods during Friday’s harvest at Maui Ku’ia Estate Chocolate’s Lahaina farm. The workers are sitting next to next to piles of just ...

(Bloomberg) -- Top cocoa grower Ivory Coast ... uncertainty for the mid-crop because harvesting is likely to be delayed by roughly a month to give pods more time to mature and ripen.