- Criollo (Spanish: Creole) comes originally from Venezuela
- Forastero (Spanish: stranger)
Main areas of cultivation for Central and South American cocoa are:
Ecuador, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Trinidad, Grenada, Venezuela, Peru, Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Costa Rica
Main areas of cultivation for Asian cocoa:
Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua-New Guinea
Main areas of cultivation for African cocoa are:
Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, Congo
Cocoa pods are 15 -20 cm long, have different colours according to their type and ripeness, from yellow to orange to violet and grow directly on the trunk of the cocoa tree. The cocoa beans are embedded in the sweet, white flesh of the cocoa pod. After the cocoa pods have been carefully harvested, they are opened by hand and the cocoa beans are taken out, together with the surrounding layer of pulp, and covered in banana leaves to start fermentation. Fermentation is a ripening process in which the cocoa aromas are developed and the characteristic taste of the cocoa bean arises. After fermentation the remainder of the pulp is removed and the cocoa beans are put out to dry in the sun. Then the beans are packed into jute sacks and undergo very strict controls at central collection points where the quality criteria are clearly defined. After passing the control the beans are loaded onto container ships and transported to the countries where they will be processed.
