Region and Country
Manayathadom and Kaithappara, Kerala, India
Story
The British East India Company introduced Indonesian cacao types to present day Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Years later, in 1947, the Indian government launched a project with Cadbury to expand cacao production 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 cacao.
Go Ground was founded in 2015 by Italian Luca Beltrami and Belgian Ellen Taerwe to support local farmers and improve their livelihoods. Their social enterprise buys cacao 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. Their cacao is grown organically.
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 riped mango, tastes of wood & cashews followed by butter and a slight flowery finish.
