Sweet cacao pulp

[palologrower]

Just went to big island to meet up with some fruit friends and one of them popped out of the bush (literally) with some cacao pods.  Pulp flavor although poor ratio, I always enjoyed eating the pulp.  This cacao I tried however had the most insane sweetness to the pulp taste.  Typical amount of pulp to seed ratio but it was so good I would want to buy the pod just to eat the pulp!  Apparently was from some research collections. Yellow pod.  That’s about all the info there was.  Unfortunately I ate it before taking pics.  Definitely going to try plant this one. Anyone heard of research being done to improve pulp quality?

[fruitlovers]

I've heard rumors of cacao with more pulp and also sweeter pulp being selected in the distant past. Unfortunately now all the emphasis is on making chocolate, so the pulp ratio and sweetness is totally neglected.

[palologrower]

I've heard rumors of cacao with more pulp and also sweeter pulp being selected in the distant past. Unfortunately now all the emphasis is on making chocolate, so the pulp ratio and sweetness is totally neglected.

I definitely kept the pod and planted out the seeds.  this is something worth keeping for sure. It reminds me of Kitkat Japan (I think) actually made a cacao flesh flavored kitkat.  If people only knew what they were missing.

[Ertdude]

I've had probably hundreds of different cacao fruits, its generally pretty random in terms of pulp to flesh ratio for me, but there is a specific variety I've had called giant red/yellow triniatro. The fruits are really big and theres a ton of sweet fruit around the seed, almost as much flesh as the seed size.

I've also had very small fruits that had lots of sweet flesh, so that's why I think it can be sort of random. I've even seen trees with different colored and size pods on the same plant.

[Ertdude]

Also ripeness can make a big difference

[palologrower]

Also ripeness can make a big difference

I’ve had ripe ones but the flavor definitely was pleasing in the end.  But if I can find one with better flesh ratio would be great to cross breed with

[fruitlovers]

Also ripeness can make a big difference

I’ve had ripe ones but the flavor definitely was pleasing in the end.  But if I can find one with better flesh ratio would be great to cross breed with

Let me know if you ever find one with lots of pulp. I've been kind of on the lookout for that myself, but have never seen it. Plenty of pods with really good taste. And yes depends a lot on stage of ripeness, as well as type of cacao.