The Geography of Chocolates - Which Chocolate Comes From Where

The Geography of Chocolates - Which Chocolate Comes From Where

"The divine drink which builds up resistance and fights fatigue. A cup of this precious drink permits man to walk for a whole day without food."

- Hernando Cortés (1519)

Cortés, the leader of the Spanish Conquistadors, was largely responsible for introducing chocolate to Europe after invading the Aztec empire and taking control of Central and South America. Over the centuries, chocolate was introduced in many countries and found millions of happy takers who were only eager to have more of the divine stuff.

Number Crunching and Fact Finding

Due to the burgeoning demand for chocolate, chocolate plantations cropped up elsewhere around the globe, such as West Africa and Central and Latin America, to cater to the billion dollar chocolate market. A huge chunk of total chocolate processing and consumption is in Europe, and a whopping 80% of the world’s chocolate market is controlled by just six food and beverage empires, like Cadbury, Nestle, and Mars, to name a few.

Companies like these source most of their cacao from West Africa, which accounts for around 85% of global chocolate production. Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is the largest producer of cacao in the world today and produces approximately 1.4 million tons of chocolate annually, followed by:
Ghana
Indonesia
Nigeria
Brazil
Cameroon
Ecuador
Dominican Republic
Papua New Guinea
Malaysia
Colombia
Mexico

The Cacao Bean Trinity

Cacao or cocoa beans are of three main varieties: Trinitario, Forastero, and Criollo. Of these three, the Criollo cacao bean accounts for only 5% of cacao bean production, which makes it extremely rare and highly expensive. Criollo is native to the northern regions of South America (particularly Venezuela), Central America, and the Caribbean isles.

Criollo is also very vulnerable to environmental threats, and its output of cacao pods per tree is low, which further adds to its ‘snob factor’. Nonetheless, this highly valued bean is said to have an acidic, yet complex flavor that stands out from the standard chocolate essence we have all become so familiar with today. Criollo has a taste that lingers on long after you have consumed it, and that’s why it is so highly valued by chocolate fanatics.

The Forastero bean is a bulk bean and is the most widely grown cacao bean of them, making up 90% of all cacao production. It is wild and native to the Amazon basin, and this variety is what is grown in West Africa. Its yield is far higher than the Criollo bean, which makes it more economical and hardy to external influences. Its taste is the trademark deep and earthy chocolate flavor we’ve come to love, but the Forastero essence doesn’t linger on like its fruity and acidic Criollo cousin, thus making it far less exclusive.

The Trinitario bean is a hybrid of the Criollo and Forastero strains and has the best of both worlds- exquisite flavour and hardiness. Its origins go back to Trinidad, where the Forastero cacao bean was introduced to Criollo crops. Like the Criollo variant, it is a flavour bean and is grown mostly in Ecuador, Colombia, and Indonesia.
Most of the finished chocolate today is sourced from the Forastero or low grade Trinitario variety.