Cocoa Harvesting: Location: The "La Reunion" Estate, on the island of Trinidad, in the southern

Caribbean. Some of us may not have heard of La Reunion before, (I certainly wouldn’t think anyone that doesn’t live in, or know Trinidad intimately would at all.) but when it comes to Cocoa, there are only a handful of locations anywhere in the world that are as important. The “La Reunion Cocoa Research Station is a ‘division’ situated within the Ministry of Agriculture's huge agricultural research station in Mausica named "Centeno".

The existence of this estate is public knowledge and many Trinis regularly venture off the familiar Church/Roose H'way to take advantage of the seriously discounted prices of plants offered there by the Govt. Farm Nursery. Also at Centeno, you can... * File an application for a Phytosanitary cert. (To import plant material legally

into T&T) * Carry in your samples for soil testing * Obtain informational material and advice * Access a wide assortment of agricultural, horticultural and botanical training

courses that are regularly offered to members of the public. Free! http://www.agriculture.gov.tt/main-media/latest-news/669-farmers-training-centre-april-2016-training-schedule.html These are but a small number of the goods and services anyone can access if they choose.

To find out about what else is on offer, visit the Ministry of Agriculture's Research Station’s page at: http://www.agriculture.gov.tt/services/by-divisions/research.html This is useful stuff and I hope some of you reading this benefit for knowing it. If you're like me, (Proud to be Trini), whenever the topic of Chocolate or Cocoa comes up, (especially if there are non-Trinis involved in the conversation) I've always been eager to point out to the rest that Trini Cocoa is widely considered to provide the finest flavored beans in the world etc etc etc... But up until only a few years ago, I had nothing more to proffer when it came to answering questions that were posed in response to my bold (unsubstantiated) claim. Without one-or-two additional interesting Trini/Coco GK-facts to "Big-Up T&T", I have to admit, I was left wanting, to say the least. I really only knew to repeat that one "fact" that I heard some people say a few times before... You know... "T&T's coco is #1!"... ..."Says who?"... ..."Uhh... Guess I just heard it said by so many people, I figured it must be true, and dutifully rattled it off whenever the opportunity arose. Like me, I suspect that most Trinis aren't aware just how important the La Reunion Cocoa Research Station really is... To cocoa cultivation, cocoa breeding, cocoa conservation, and overall cocoa species' genetic preservation. That's right, because La Reunion is the home of the International Cocoa Gene Bank. That is to say that despite the fact that the "epicenter" of Theobroma cacao’s evolutionary range lies hundreds of miles away to the south of here in the humid tropical forests of the foothills of the Amazonian side of the Andes mountain chain in South America, Trinidad has been entrusted with the privilege of maintaining, duplicating and supplying 'variety specific' genetic clones/materials on request to countries and institutions the world over. Cocoa seeds are ‘recalcitrant’ seeds. This means that if you allow them to dry out, they lose all viability and won’t grow if planted. Therefore Cocoa seeds cannot be stored in containers on shelves in a conventional ‘seed gene bank’.

Even if they are kept in a carefully climate controlled storage unit. Arguably one of the world’s most beloved non-wood forest products, Theobroma Cacao is a most important and lucrative crop indeed. The ‘recalcitrant’ nature of the seeds means that whole fields containing multiple specimens of each ‘type’ (or variety) of the species must be carefully documented and lovingly maintained. (There are currently more than 1400 varieties being preserved by T&T at La Reunion. Multiple individuals of over 1400 ’types’ kept in rigorously documented plot. (Location, type id #, Tree # …) I don’t have a specific number for how many trees this works out to, but I spend a lot of time in the estate and the number is HUGE!!! I think I’ll ask next time I go. I'm not sure but I like to imagine that T&T’s long, distinguished history with Cocoa contributed at least in-part to the global cocoa industries leaders’ decision to entrust us with this crucial responsibility. As part of the British colonial empire, Trinidad first begun by simple cultivation of cocoa. Later on our growers became proficient at cross-pollination of the different varieties. Their intent being to introduce desirable characteristics present in a specimen bearing a lower quality (and flavor) bean, to less robust varieties that produced high quality beans with superior flavor characteristics. This is a painfully slow undertaking (sometimes decades long) of selecting new varieties from literally thousands of seedlings (every one of the seeds obtained from the crossed fruit is allowed to grow to fruiting age. Once it fruits and the quality has been evaluated, the tree decision is made as to which specimen(s) are displaying desirable traits. Only those that meet the desired criteria will be kept and propagated. The rest are usually destroyed. The worst part is that even with all the knowledge, experience, time and dedication required to see it through this process, there’s no guarantee the breeder will emerge with a viable or superior tree. (It’s really gotta be something you love…) One of the 'enhanced' new varieties obtained in Trinidad through this decades-long process bears an alpha-numeric 'designation' rather than a real name. To the best of my knowledge. [Drumroll please…] ….The name of the creme-de-la-creme cocoa variety whose aroma and flavor solidified Trinidad's reputation as the best in the world, is called simply, "TSH-919" (Trinidad Selected Hybrid 919) and it is indeed considered the best in the world by many of Europe's finest chocolatiers who use it primarily in their highest coco-percentage dark/bitter chocolate. Not to everyone's liking, (I love it, yum…) but very, very good for your health. Naturally we should remember that ‘taste’ is a very subjective thing, and preferences vary widely when it comes to which

‘type(s)” of beans a particular chocolate is made with. Cocoa beans contain an assortment of beneficial compounds and there is mounting evidence suggesting that regular consumption is effective as a preventive regimen to help stave off and even improve age related circulatory health disorders. (In other words; “It does stop yuh from cetchin’ heart attack, stroke an’ suggah na … “ O ho… an’ it does keep yuh artrees an’ ting from hard’nin’ too…”) The diets of native tribes in Argentina, Bolivia, Equador, and so on, that still live in the traditional way invariably include a variety of ingredients obtained from the Cacao trees that grow wild in their forests. Researchers note that in these settings, eating their simple, high Cacao diets, the tribes-people display almost no incidences of the so-called modern diseases like heart disease, hypertension, diabetes etc. Not until they leave their villages (and their Cacao rich diets) behind for the big city and the modern foods so conveniently available there. Then their risks of developing one or more of these illnesses becomes equal to our own. (Eat Plenty Cocoa! It’s good for your Health…) A request… Please. If after you read this you feel you’d like to start regularly including Cacao in your diet. Don’t tief it please. Years ago I used to think nothing of pulling over on the side of the road in Santa Cruz or Gran Couva or wherever to pick a few pods to suck. It’s not something I do nor do I condone any longer. The fact is, the stealing of another person’s fruit it’s not necessary. I find that if you see the farmer/owner, all you have to do is ask… 99% of the times they’re so pleased that you didn’t just pick it without asking that they want to send you home with half the tree… Try to resist being greedy and take only what you can enjoy for the drive home and consume at home without it spoiling. The "Pods" in the photo were collected from the trees the day before and piled in a big heap. Now we see one of the Field Station’s workers preparing to begin the next step in the process known as "Cracking the Coco” which means quite simply to “Crack” open the pods and extract the seeds. After the cracking is done, the seeds along with the sweet white pulp that coats them are fermented for roughly three weeks. Then they are dried, (not roasted, remember, the natural oils/fats contained within the bean is what you want.) “For d coco, eh-ro-steeng es no bueno..!” <--- (Read using your best Latin accent…)

Typically, drying the beans is done utilizing one of two methods. The first way is to dry them in a traditional “Cocoa house” with it’s roof mounted on tracks to allow it to be quickly rolled open during periods of sun… and closed if it looks like it’s getting overcast and might rain. The other (modern) method uses the gas fired drying table. Much quicker and convenient, but in my opinion, something is lost when your “Cocoa isn’t dried in the Sun”. Then the dried remnants of the pulp is removed from the beans. By now they are dry and they are mechanically ‘polished’ and sorted by size before being poured into large burlap sacks ready for shipping.

Finally, the seeds have officially become the famous dried cocoa beans used in the creation of the various chocolates, drinks and many more treats that we all know and love... …