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Chocolate Grows on Trees? Sign me up!

Are there really such things? 

Yes, Virginia. Chocolate grows on trees.



Willy Wonka's ultimate dream! Rows of trees with bars hanging low for easy picking. 10-12 bars on each branch, 200 or more on each tree- Ready to make into Truffles, bars, creams, sauces and powders. What a dream but alas, all dreams fade in the mornings first light.
Oh, Chocolate does grow on trees, but not like this, though it would make pruning less of chore wouldn't it?





They grow like this. Medium height tree, with the seeds that chocolate is made from set in thick football shaped pods that grow directly out of the trunks and limbs rather than out on the outer portions of the terminal branches on fruit spurs like most other fruit. 



And unlike other fruit, chocolate pods have to go through an intensive set of processing steps to become what we know as Chocolate. Fermenting, drying, classifying, milling, pressing, heating, mixing, tempering and a few I can't remember off the top of my head just to get into an advent calendar, an easter bunny, or a dove bar. 

From "Food Anatomy", Julia Rothman*
Funny thing though, I am allergic to chocolate. So why would I plant this any where near my garden? Easy. JoAnn loves chocolate. I love her, so I planted 2 of our 4 cacao trees (to date) so she could have her favorite type of chocolate, nibs. Nibs are found in the middle of the chocolate process following fermenting and drying and roasting; the nibs are what the dried seeds break into when you do the first rough grind. She loves them. This is a simplified diagram on how chocolate is processed- Link to the book is below.

When I transplanted this tree into the new bed, I noticed these flowers growing on it. I was so excited since all the info I've read said it would take a few years to get pods. This little plant is the biggest we have, but at just 3 feet, I wasn't expecting any blooming this year.  We have plenty of space for more than 4 trees, I'll be planting them all over the property, tucked into small beds here and there- two to three trees to a bed for pollination. These are not self pollinating. 


The bed is roughly 5 feet wide and about 15 feet long. I laid Ohi'a trunks along three sides and filled that space with just over 1500 pounds of mulch, just under 12" deep. Our County provides heat treated mulch for free- you go get. We can haul away up to 10 cubic yards for free, but only one load is put in the truck by skip loader, the rest I have to load by hand. I get one load a day. 

The cacao trees are slow growers so I paired them with papayas we grew from seed. These are fast growers that grow up tall and straight, up to 12-15 feet for some varieties. They are another trunk fruiting plant. The thing with papayas is that they only fruit if they are either a female or a hermaphrodite, males do not produce fruit. And since the papayas are self fertilizing, males are not needed at all.





They are planted in multiples because there is no way to tell if it is a Male, Female or Hermaphrodite until it flowers! The males are then culled and added to the mulch piles, the females and hermaphrodites allowed to grow and fruit.  



I will be adding flowers to all my vegetable and fruit beds to 'round' out their overall look.  Function first, which is food, then aesthetics so a walk in the garden isn't all about just getting the food off the plant, it's also a peaceful place to be. 

Next post: Updates


* Link to the book, "Food Anatomy" :
https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-27843/this-illustrated-book-is-the-perfect-gift-for-the-foodies-on-your-list.html

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