I once grew cacao and I'm looking to grow it again. However I've been doing research and there's a particular variety I found interesting - the rarer "criollo" variety. This is the variety cultivated by the early mesoamericans and which produces a reddish chocolate.
Criollo was initially the main produced variety, but unknown pests and diseases started affecting the plantations in the 1700s and they switched to the hardier Forastero/Calabicillo variety (spp. spherocarpum) from the northern Amazon, in particular the cultivar Amelonado. As I grow indoors in Iceland, assuming clean seeds, whatever pests and diseases are found in their natural growing areas should not affect me here.
Does anyone know of a supplier for these seeds? For those who've tasted it, what do you think of the flavor? I generally see it described as richer and more complex.