Cacao Fruit

[Sir Graftalot]

Smell and taste not much better than raw pumpkin. Suckered again!

[Tropicaltoba]

Huh?

[elouicious]

people grow them for the beans, not the fruit, they are a novelty to eat but honestly a pain and not that good

[Sir Graftalot]

Not that good at all!

people grow them for the beans, not the fruit, they are a novelty to eat but honestly a pain and not that good

[Sir Graftalot]

It's a cocoa fruit - what chocolate is made from. Taste terrible as a fruit!

Huh?

[Jaboticaba45]

Cacao fruit tastes pretty good
You must not have had a fresh one
If you want a good one you can order from my friend Bryan Brunner - Montoso Gardens
But all in all, not much flesh to eat mostly used for the beans
Super cool anyways

[elouicious]

Honestly I like Herrania more, Jabo is right though they are palatable, shouldnt be insipid or anything like that, maybe yours is too far gone but the pulp looks pretty white and creamy to me

[Sir Graftalot]

Ah, thanks for correcting my dyslexia, Jaboticaba45 🤣

I always seem to get the crappiest fruits buying online.

Cacao fruit tastes pretty good
You must not have had a fresh one
If you want a good one you can order from my friend Bryan Brunner - Montoso Gardens
But all in all, not much flesh to eat mostly used for the beans
Super cool anyways

[Sir Graftalot]

Not creamy at all. It was hard, like eating styrofoam!

Honestly I like Herrania more, Jabo is right though they are palatable, shouldnt be insipid or anything like that, maybe yours is too far gone but the pulp looks pretty white and creamy to me

[Tropicaltoba]

I had a good fresh one in Costa Rica many years ago. The flesh was fine but not something I would eat on a regular basis. Has anyone tried making their own chocolate?

[Sir Graftalot]

I tried eating the beans - really bitter, hard to stomach.

I had a good fresh one in Costa Rica many years ago. The flesh was fine but not something I would eat on a regular basis. Has anyone tried making their own chocolate?

[Jaboticaba45]

I had a good fresh one in Costa Rica many years ago. The flesh was fine but not something I would eat on a regular basis. Has anyone tried making their own chocolate?

I've gone all the way to cacao nibs...they do good in smoothies etc.

Home made chocolate is novelty and cool, but without all the industrial things, there's no way to grind chocolate to be as fine as you get in the store.
It'll be a bit grainy lol which I don't think is a bad thing in itself

I mean I think its a cool fruit, and it seems to have a large season too. maybe even year round if someone can let me know on that.

[Ognin525]

Cacao fruit tastes pretty good
You must not have had a fresh one
If you want a good one you can order from my friend Bryan Brunner - Montoso Gardens
But all in all, not much flesh to eat mostly used for the beans
Super cool anyways

I'll second Bryan  hes an awsome guy really helpful! Heres a pic of my last order from him, they were right off the tree fresh even a bit juicy and tasted very good! Some mango-y some coconutty very interesting flavors between them all. We made hot coco mix with the seeds came out really good I just use a tea strainer to hold the ground nibs.

[roblack]

The pulp can be as good or better than guanabana, but you gotta catch it at the right time. Not a lot of pulp, and can be a lot of work getting it off the beans. 

[Sir Graftalot]

Wow, Bill, for you to get that much of this fruit, there must be something more to it than the one I have tried.

Cacao fruit tastes pretty good
You must not have had a fresh one
If you want a good one you can order from my friend Bryan Brunner - Montoso Gardens
But all in all, not much flesh to eat mostly used for the beans
Super cool anyways

I'll second Bryan  hes an awsome guy really helpful! Heres a pic of my last order from him, they were right off the tree fresh even a bit juicy and tasted very good! Some mango-y some coconutty very interesting flavors between them all. We made hot coco mix with the seeds came out really good I just use a tea strainer to hold the ground nibs.

[Sir Graftalot]

Your right. It's probably a timing thing. I didn't let it sit on the counter or anything. I just chopped it up as soon as it came in the mail.

The pulp can be as good or better than guanabana, but you gotta catch it at the right time. Not a lot of pulp, and can be a lot of work getting it off the beans.

[booeyschewy]

I second you all have probably had old pods. Cacao and other theobromas are definitely in the top 10 fruits of the world. The problem is that when ripe they begin to ferment and get off pretty quickly. After 2-3 days most of the pulp has dried and you’ve lost flavor and within a week it’ll be bad. For that reason a fresh tasty pod is hard to find outside the tropics.

[Daintree]

Definitely old dried up pods. My son travels to various chocolate festivals and does "pod openings" and lets people try them.  The pulp should be soft and sticky and taste sort of lemony.
Yes Bryan at Montoso has sent me some excellent fruits. I have three mature cacao trees and a bunch of juveniles in my greenhouse.

[Jaboticaba45]

Definitely old dried up pods. My son travels to various chocolate festivals and does "pod openings" and lets people try them.  The pulp should be soft and sticky and taste sort of lemony.
Yes Bryan at Montoso has sent me some excellent fruits. I have three mature cacao trees and a bunch of juveniles in my greenhouse.

Carolyn, do you get a lot of pods each year?

[Daintree]

Carolyn, do you get a lot of pods each year?
[/quote]

I do not. I have to hand pollinate, and that requires doing it every morning for a couple of weeks, using tweezers and a jewelers loupe.  Sometimes the forestero will set fruit by itself, but since I have no insect pollinators, it is mostly up to me. I start out all excited when they start blooming, but that doesn't last long (the excitement, that is!)

[Lumi-Ukko]

I had an excellent cacao fresh from the market in Antigua, Guatemala at New Year. A bit of a pain with the flesh but it was very sweet (though I agree, not sure I could eat it every day). I incidentally now have 20 small cacao trees from the saved seeds. Hoping I can get them to grow a bit more heat tolerant than the seedling trees I've not done so well with, still to be seen, but so far so good.

[SplorKeLZ]

i have had cacao straight off the tree, very delicious! but kinda difficult eat as the seeds are bitter and somewhat crumbly

[booeyschewy]

When you eat cacau you grab a few seeds and suck the pulp. There’s no chewing involved. You don’t eat the seeds because they’re bitter. Fermentation is done to improve the taste along with roasting. The pulp is incredible and makes great juice both when pulp through an extractor or when it runs off the seeds from a press or even just sack of nylon (cacao nectar).