Cocoa Harvesting

After a long season of working in the hot sun, farmers throughout the world anticipate the harvest. The harvest signifies the end to a hard season’s work, and farmers are able to literally see the fruits of their labors. The cocoa farmer is no different—he looks forward to the bi-annual harvest that colors the cocoa plantations with cocoa pods in the multitudes of different colors that decorate the cocoa trees as if it were Christmas.

Unlike most food crops, cocoa trees are capable of producing cocoa pods throughout the year. Even so, there are two primary harvests each year, which usually coincide with the advent of the rainy seasons. The fall season, the largest, centers on November, while the spring season centers on April. In areas where the climate is drier and the rainy seasons are not as significant, cocoa trees will produce pods throughout the year in more abundance, thus providing an almost perpetual harvest.

Since cocoa trees are generally propogated through the use of cuttings and grafting instead of by seed, it is not uncommon for many of the trees within a plantation to be clones of each other. Besides allowing the farmer to control the flavor of the cocoa on the plantation, the use of cuttings and grafting assists the farmer in one other very important way: when all the cocoa trees have essentially the same genes, the cocoa pods on the trees will ripen at approximately the same time. This makes harvesting the ripe cocoa pods easier, since there is a more well defined harvest period.

In the more frequent case where the cocoa trees are of mixed heritage throughout the plantation, the cocoa pods throughout the plantation will ripen over a much longer period of time. The color of the cocoa pods may only be used as a general guide to the ripeness of the cocoa. A much better guide is to tap the cocoa pod. When the pod is still in its unripened state, the beans are packed tightly within the pod. When stuck, if the cocoa pod gives off a deep, hollow sound, the cocoa beans are no longer packed within the pod but are loose, a sure indication that the pod is ripe. Like many farmers, cocoa farmers over time get to know their plantation very well. They will even learn in which order the trees on their plantation ripen and their color when ripe; and with this skill they are able to harvest the cocoa pods more quickly.

The number of pods that a cocoa tree will bear depends on the variety of tree as well as the tree’s age. Cocoa trees do not start bearing until they are approximately three years old. During the first few seasons the number of pods on each tree is limited. Each year, the tree will produce additional cocoa pods until it reaches its peak of productivity at between ten to twelve years of age.

Cocoa trees are very fragile. This is one of the reasons why cocoa trees need “mother trees” to protect them, since they are easily broken by the wind or burned by the sun. Care must be taken during the harvest to protect such fragile trees. The farmer must be careful not to damage the “eyes” on the tree from which the cocoa pods grow. From these eyes, future cocoa flowers emerge, and afterwards, new cocoa pods. When an eye is damaged through the action of wind or careless harvesting, it becomes infertile, and no future cocoa pods will emerge from that site.

To keep from damaging trees, the workers will pick the cocoa pods on the trunk and lower branches by using a machete, knife, or pruning shears. The remaining cocoa pods high in the tree are picked using a special knife on the end of a long pole. These knifes are made of high grade steel and are kept very sharp. Many have sharp hooks on them so that the farmer is able to reach in between cocoa pods to cut out the ripe ones. It is a delicate task to remove the pods high in the tree without damaging the cocoa flowers or any cocoa pods that are not yet ready for harvest. The farmers become very talented with these hooks, and even when the cocoa pods are very high in the tree, they are able to remove the pods without damage to the tree.

The pods are split open and the beans removed first by splitting them open. Then the beans scooped out. Some farms use an automated pod-cracking machine. However, since there are only around thirty beans in a cocoa pod, it takes a lot of work simply to haul the cocoa pods to the machine to have them cracked. For this reason, these machines are quite rare; most farms and workers choose to open the pods near the tree from which they are harvested.

Cocoa Pods and Harvesting Knife

The pods are often split open by cracking them open carefully with a machete. The pods are not simply split but instead are cracked and then opened by hand. A skilled worker can split the cocoa pod with a machete without harming the beans inside. The pods, while relatively hard, are brittle and hence are easily cracked open with a machete. The pod is hit gently—just enough to break the outer hull. Then the pods are easily opened by hand and the beans removed. Some workers choose to split the pods open by hitting them with a wooden stick or hitting the pods with a rock. Often, some workers will dedicate themselves to opening the pods while other workers scoop out the beans. The beans are heaped into piles on beds of banana leaves, or on to tarps.

It is important to emphasize that the process of harvesting of the cocoa pods, their breaking, and the collection of the beans is a social affair. As the pods are harvested from the trees, the workers will joke with each other, share stories and local news, and gossip. This is especially the case when they sit together as they open the cocoa pods. It is a time when the workers and community bond t as they watch the fruits of their labor grow in piles of ever-increasing size.

Since it is hot, the workers will also “sample” some of the beans by sucking off the sweet white pulp that surrounds the beans. It is sweet, tart, and floral, very much like a light lemonade. On a hot day, it is totally refreshing. There is no need for a refrigerator.

The empty cocoa pod hulls are gathered first in small piles and later collected into larger piles, usually in an open field. The cocoa pod hulls then quickly start to turn black and begin to decompose. It is not uncommon for cocoa plantations to have numerous piles of rotting cocoa pod hulls wherever free space may be found, all turning into compost. This rich, black compost is later used as fertilizer throughout the plantation.

The beans are gathered together so that they may undergo fermentation. Fermentation is important, for it is a critical component in the development of the chocolate flavor. The fermentation sometimes takes place on the cocoa plantation.

Additionally, some farmers choose to take their beans to a fermentation house that serves a wide variety of farms. The fermentation house weighs the beans upon their arrival, the farmer is paid, and the beans are then moved into large wooden fermentation boxes that are three to four feet square.

Whether the fermentation occurs at the local fermentation house or on the farm, the process of harvesting has now ended. The cocoa farmer can look back over the hard work from the last six months, sigh a breath of relief, and be satisfied over a job well done. Meanwhile, the cocoa beans continue on in their journey. They will be fermented, dried, and then sold to the chocolate makers of the world, who with loving care will transform these beans into chocolate that brings delight, passion, and love to people throughout the world.