Chocolate is a well loved commodity in our world and believe it or not you can grow your own Chocolate Pods. The ripe fruit or pods contain the raw chocolate pieces that can be made into chocolate nibs. Chocolate nibs are sited as the new super food for their anti-oxidant qualities. The chocolate candy bars that we know come from the chocolate pods as well but is a highly mechanized process.
To get started with growing your own Chocolate Plant which will produce the chocolate pods watch the video below.
Byron Martin shows how to grow Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) in containers and what to do with the inherent browning leaves that are typical of chocolate plants.
The chocolate pods can be cut in half once they turn an orange/golden color which indicates that they are ripe.
Chocolate pods
In our new book, Growing Tasty Tropical Plants, has a nice section on how to grow chocolate and how to make your own chocolate nibs from the cocooned chocolate pieces inside the chocolate pod.
