Cacao bearing is 4-5 times a year
That is... weather permitting. As too much rain with either wash all of those flowers away, or, worse, damage the fruit. The biggest crop of the year is from September to January (weather permitting, or should I say, "until the weather F's-it up." For the rainy season generally comes in November and lasts until Christmas or worst case, sometime in the New Year.
Note in the below photo the nearly ripe fruit, an unmature fruit and a flower bud (a potential future cacao pod!)
A cacao tree can produce 25,0000 flowers within a season! Yet, only a maximum of 50-60 fruits are pollinated and mature.
Not all cacao are equal (sorry!)
I prefer the taste of the creole cacao, as it has a high-fat, creamy consistency with a fruity flavor. However, this tree pictured below a creole variety, does not give the quantity of fruit as does some of the high-breds with an inferior taste (In my opinion, of course!). Here is a creole variety cacao tree.
One of the trending "High-Bred" Cacao Trees is called, "Imbrio"
It looks fantastic, bears like nobody's business, and faster than the creole variety yet the taste is inferior. Worse, she tends to want to take over and run out all the trees around her. But look how she can bear.
When will all of this beautiful fruit be ready?
Early September. I took these photos today. As you see, some fruit is coming sooner than others, but the bulk will be here in September and October. And those little flowers and the very immature pods, will be ready in October and November. And the trees are still flowering, so weather permitting, through the New Year. ANY THING CAN HAPPEN. So we won't count our chocolate bars until the cacao pods are harvested, right.
Much love from your Cacao Farmer
And Chocolate Astrologer! In Joy, So Much LOVE to you all!
BE Fearless, my dear friends,
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Choose LOVE
It's YOUR Choice.
If you like me and you want more, just follow, and upvote and even RE-steem.
Fascinating! I do not know much about how cacao is grown. I mix one spoon of raw cacao powder into water and drink it each day to boost my magnesium. And it is funny, I now prefer the taste of raw cacao powder over the taste of sweetened chocolate. Do you blend the cacao from different types of trees to make chocolate? Or said another way, do you grow different types of cacao trees because they have different qualities that when mixed produce a better product than just using one variety? Thanks!
Hola @chefsteve. I grow several varieties of cacao because they were present when I bought the farm 20 plus years ago. However, I prefer the creole variety for flavor and consistency (mainly the creaminess).
If you ever make it to PV Talamanca you can take a farm tour with me and see and learn the process of tree-to-bar.
Good idea to ingest only pure cacao. Source your product. Go for central/ south american vs. African.
Thanks for the cacao buying tip. I often wonder about the authenticity of the product.
These cacao plants look gorgeos. Can you pollinate these flowers artifically to increase the harvest? And isn't there always too much rain in Porto Viejo?
Hola @flauwy, I have "midges" pollinating for me. And my trees are more loaded than anyones, so all is good. Now we just pray for not too much rain!
Midges like in mosquitos? The translation of that word into German is very confusing.
Yes, @flauwy, a "Midge" is a mosquito like being who does not bite. Yes, a good mosquito of sorts. A very important pollinator. If we were to "overly" clean the cacao farm we would wipe of the Midge population and have less fruit as a result. One of those good reasons, "not to clean!"
Thank you to my Steemit friends. I love you so very much. Sending you all so much chocolate love.