
Stage 2: The pods are hand-harvested and cracked open, revealing a white tropical tasting film stretched over a cob of beans. The beans are removed from the pod, fermented in the forest under banana leaves and then sun-dried. (This stage is very labour intensive and one reason Fairtrade is so important to help in the battle against slave and child labour in cocoa farms)




I was lucky enough to travel to Ghana in 2013 as representative of Fairtrade Ireland and visit the Kuapa Kokoo Fairtrade Farming Co-operative where every treat from Exploding Tree starts its life. Here are some pictures from that amazing experience…