About Cocoa
Picking and Opening the Pods
Ivorian farmers working together splitting ripe cocoa pods
The first step in harvesting is to cut the pods off the tree. Farmers usually follow the old traditional methods to do this, using machetes or long bamboo poles with knives attached. The next step is to split the pods open and scrape out the beans, which are embedded in pulp in five long rows. The beans are put into a big pile, usually on a layer of banana leaves.
At this stage the beans are very moist and fleshy. They have a soft white sweet milky skin or shell, rather like a broad bean.
