More cocoa

I paid a visit to the Cocoa Reseach centre at UWI (University of the West Indies) today to try and identify my cocoa. I did not walk with a pod but just by pictures, it seems that it may be the hybrid 919- hhmmm-
The Cocoa Research Centre is an excellent facility and I plan to go back up with pod in hand to get some more genealogical data on my plant. What it was bred to achieve etc.

I am going to reprint an article that was written by John Spence, a well respected Agriculturist who writes frequently for the Express. This article was forwarded to me by the Cocoa Research Dept.

Chocolate - new black gold
John Spence

Thursday, March 29th 2007



My last three articles were mainly on this country's production of cocoa beans. In this article I shall discuss the possibility of a high quality chocolate industry based on our fine flavour cocoa.
A recent article in the UK Independent indicates the rapidly expanding market for dark or bitter chocolate (referred to in the article as "Black Gold"). In that article Trinidad and Grenada are mentioned, the former as providing cocoa for a manufacturer in France (Valrhona) and the latter as producing an up-market chocolate from cocoa grown in Grenada. The Grenada Chocolate Company is reported to be producing Organic Dark Chocolate using cocoa from a particular farm in that island. The chocolate is described as "deeply flavoured and lingeringly complex".
Dark or bitter chocolate is now all the rage in the United Kingdom and other developed countries since medical research has suggested a role for chocolate (acting through the presence of an anti-oxidant- possibly epicatechin) in lowering the risk of heart disease, strokes, cancer and diabetes. It has also been demonstrated that chocolate increases the flow of blood to the brain and this may assist in combating Alzheimer's disease. Perhaps the fact that we no longer have a cocoa drink in the morning ("cocoa-tea") may in part explain the currently high incidence of heart disease and diabetes.
Research should be undertaken locally to determine the efficacy (if any) of the use of cocoa in lowering the incidence of these killing diseases in this country. In the United Kingdom cocoa was a popular drink before coffee. Why do we not attempt to revive that custom by using our petroleum wealth to invest in cocoa houses in the UK?
Dark chocolates are now displacing milk chocolates that have more sugar and less of the desired anti-oxidant. Dark chocolates are bitter to the taste hence the alternate designation (bitter chocolates). This is where the quality of the cocoa becomes important. Since the cocoa flavour is not masked by other ingredients the intrinsic flavour characteristics are tasted. Most expensive dark chocolates are made from fine flavour cocoa which is in short supply on the world market.
However, fine flavour cocoa beans are not traded as a separate commodity but are given a premium price that fluctuates with the world market price of ordinary cocoa. This can be addressed by selling our beans to individual manufacturers. However the big money is in the elite bitter chocolates manufactured from fine flavour cocoa.
The good news is that one of our most successful entrepreneurs, Mr Lawrence Duprey, executive chairman of CL Financial Limited, has entered into the production of cocoa on his own farms. Mr Duprey, made a presentation to the Faculty of Science and Agriculture in which he spoke of his interest in cocoa. UWI Today (12th March, 2006) reports that Mr Duprey, who owns a large acreage of cocoa estates and says he "has cocoa in his blood," processes Trinidad cocoa in France and exports it under the Tamana label as a super premium brand of chocolate to Japan.
It is to be hoped that Mr Duprey will expand his initial penetration into the international market and progress to manufacturing fine chocolates locally. The technology could be bought or developed locally by the relevant professionals. If a small entrepreneur manufacturing chocolate in Grenada can get on the world market with chocolates made from local fine flavour cocoa the myth that we should continue to export cocoa as a raw material or that we can only import non-fine flavour cocoa to manufacture run-of-the-mill milk chocolates has surely been exploded!
UWI Today further reports Mr Duprey as saying that Government had "failed to understand the value of its agricultural assets and the extent to which scientific developments had created the power to leverage these assets into new products and brands that could be successful in the global marketplace". This precisely expresses the views that I am attempted to convey in these five articles on cocoa (Express, March 1, 10, 17, 22 and 29).
This country has developed elite varieties (in the Ministry of Agriculture), the fermentation technology (developed by our cocoa farmers and the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture-now UWI) and is now pioneering research on flavour at the Cocoa Research Unit. With our industrial experience we could manufacture fine chocolates for which there is an expanding market.
The popularity of dark chocolates has increased the world demand for cocoa beans since more cocoa is needed to make this product than to make milk chocolates. In addition there is a world shortage of cocoa. This emphasises the short sightedness of our Government, for had there been action on advice given in 1992 and again in 2002 our crop could have been at least five times greater than it is today!
In view of Government's lack of interest our only hope for development of the industry may therefore lie in the initiative of private entrepreneurs such as Mr Duprey.

Centeno is just one of the government's agricultural farms. Many hardy varieties of fruit trees can be found here and the staff are knowledgeable and friendly. When I visited a few years ago to buy a cocoa plant- they were amused- why did I want one cocoa plant? It's a sensible question because there's not much you can do with one cocoa tree except admire it and occasionally eat the pulpy white flesh from around the slightly bitter pod. I must have really lucked out that day because I got a sturdy, prolific plant that seems to be a different variety from the ones I see on the old cocoa estates. My cocoa is yellow with a nubby skin. Many others that I see are smoother skinned and are often smaller and run the gamut from yellow to red to the occasional magenta. I keep meaning to find out how many varieties we have on the island. With just 17,000 square feet of land, serious cocoa production was never an option, but a bumper crop last year resulted in so many seedlings and I am toying with the idea of trying to make my own chocolate.
Trinidad's cocoa is world renowned. It is said to be the best in the world and before the heyday of oil, this was the first black gold to carry the country's economy.
According to The Worldwide Gourmet ......
Ecuador, Colombia, Venezuela… cocoa trees were introduced to the West Indies by Benjamin Dacosta and from there began to be propagated in the northern regions of South America.
Some are listed on the stock exchange. They constitute 8% of the market, representing fine grade cocoa, the market's other "black gold." They include the Trinitario cocoa grown in Trinidad and Grenada, the national cocoa of Ecuador and some criollos from Venezuela.
Trinidad's Trinitario
It is Trinidad that leads the pack, however, with its favoured growing conditions in which soil, climate and tradition team up to produce a top-quality product. On the forest-covered hills, 120,000 trees produce up to 100 tonnes of the finest cocoa, trinitario, a hybrid created in 1939 from the fragile criollo and the hardy African forastera, a graft that received the blessing of the Imperial College, the colonial cocoa administrators. Delicate flavour combined with strong fruitiness are the marks of trinitario cocoa which goes into making the world's finest "couverture" chocolates. It grows on what is here called "cocoa soil," a sandy clay soil looked after by ladies in hair curlers who slowly and methodically weed around the trees. The men trim the cocoa trees yearly, cutting them back every four years to maintain a height of 5 to 8 metres to make harvesting easier.

A Lifetime Ago

This is not the work of some retro Trinidadian photographer. This is a walk down memory lane courtesy my sister's new scanner. Now I know where these pictures vanished to-
My sister Jennifer is five years younger than I am and lives in Miami. She squirrels away photos, clothes, Enid Blyton and TinTin books, and other miscellaneous bric-a-brac from our childhood every time she comes home to visit. She sent me these photos today. Seeing them after so many years was bittersweet if not downright painful.
As children we spent lots of time in Mayaro, that long, lovely stretch of beach on the Southeastern coast of Trinidad. The golden light of the old photo perfectly captures my nostalgic memories of this time- swimming at dusk with Tramp. Tramp adopted us and was a loyal companion for years. He was a great dog, a good old pothong (pothound) as we say in Trinidad. He actually belonged to a neighbour but preferred our house and eventually they just gave him to us. He would "sing" with my father when Daddy came home on a Friday night with a few after-work drink under his belt. In this picture, he is obviously annoyed with me for making him pose with me when he was wet and probably cold.

This is Jennifer with Tramp and this picture is taken minutes before we went for a swim.
Jennifer and I- circa 1976?
Another Mayaro shot This is the only shirt that appears in all my childhood photos- This red with the white Vee was a hot favourite. And both Jennifer and I seem to have worn it daily for several years. In this picture, Jen is between Natalie Farah (Coutts) and I. It was the Farah's house in Mayaro that was our Mayaro base until we became adults. The grown ups had a very set routine. We would wake up to a huge breakfast with fried bakes, black pudding, eggs, bacon- the whole sheebang- after which Mummy and Daddy would play doubles Padda with Uncle Jack and Auntie Shirley. The children would sit on this bench and watch this game- One love, deuce! Game! Waiting patiently for the game to come to an end and the swimming to begin- this routine went on almost every weekend for years.
Mummy playing pool in Mayaro.

Daddy relaxing in Mayaro.

Stephen Broadbridge

For the next few days I will be uploading the work of photographers in Trinidad that I think are doing amazing work. I'm starting with Stephen Broadbridge, a neighbour and very respected tour operator.
Just up the road from my house is No 9 Fondes Amandes Rd. This charming residence is the homebase of Caribbean Discovery Tours which is run by Stephen Broadbridge.
Stephen has an obvious deep love of Trinidad and Tobago and it shows in his photography. He manages to capture the essence of natural Trinidad with its cultural nuances and extraordinary wildlife. Having just travelled around the Western Caribbean, it's amazing how different our topography is to the rest of the Caribbean. We are really so much more South American.

Stephen offers wildlife and adventure tours and the copy on his website http://www.caribbeandiscoverytours.com/about_us.html
reads in part that as a photographer of wildlife he supplies an archive of forest, wetland and urban images for international publications-periodicals, brochures and posters such as The Economist, Island Magazine and Eco Traveller Magazine.
Stephen offers organisation and management advice and guidance for academic courses and special services for Filmmakers. He co-produced the award winning wild-life documentary, "Wild T and T" and assisted the BBC on their filming of "Wild Caribbean".
I really believe that different sides of our twin Republic are shown through the eyes of every lens. But onto Stephen's work.
Copyright of all photos below belongs to photographer Stephen Broadbridge. Thanks for letting us see your work, Stephen.


An aerial view of Tobago- Isn't she lovely?




Green Honey Creeper, Northern Range. Trinidad. I don't think I've ever seen one up this close.

A Red legged Honey Creeper. Northern Range.Trinidad is considered one the top 10 best places on the globe for birding with over 450 species.
I'm not sure what type of bird this is? Craig, help!
Or this one. Craig or Stephen, help!
Tobago- I love this photo because Tobago's Immortelles are indescribable. Rows and rows of this incredible red tree. Often called "mother of the cocoa" or "madre de cacao" becuase it was used on the cocoa estates to provide crucial shade for the cocoa trees.
A Chestnut Woodpecker. This one is different to the one I had posted before which was black and red.
An anaconda which can get enormous. These snakes are hypnotic in their sheer size and muscular movement. As beautiful as they are, I would not like to come face to face with one of them in the mangrove.
Local porcupine. I have only ever seen one in my life. They are quite secretive and not commonly seen in urban areas.
Dawn at Manzanilla Beach on the Southeastern coast. The massive collection of coconut estates runs for several miles along beach. Many of the oil rigs are located off this coastline and at night, it is often striking to see the oil rigs on the horizon under the rising moon
Carnival!

Celebrating Divali. The traditional Hindu festival of lights that usually takes place in October. It generally ushers in the Christmas season and has become one of the country's most beloved festivals.
Phagwa- Another Indian festical where coloured water called "abeer" is thrown on celebrants.
Phagwa is a festival of fun and laughter. It celebrates springtime and renewal, harking back to the ancient life of the holy youth Prahalad, whose name means joy. The climax of the day is the Festival of Colours, a street celebration where people arrive wearing white and leave alive with colour, their clothes having been squirted with brightly-dyed water called abeer. This is Pichakaree, an art form in which humanity is the canvas. The festival offers devotees a unique opportunity for release and self-expression. http://www.search.co.tt/trinidad/phagwa/what.html


La Cuevas Beach
Sorting anthuriums in the country. Mending the nets



One of our very special ecosystems- the Nariva swamp

The colour of the yellow poui is so vibrant that you can't find it on a colour chart. It has an intensity that is almost shocking. These trees pop into bloom one after the other all over Trinidad and the flowers completely cover the tree before gentlly falling to the ground. To flower the tree sheds most (if not all) of its leaves and gives a last hurrah with these saffron bells. By the time the last flower falls off, the tree is bursting with new life and sending forth tender leaflets. I have three in my garden and they stubbornly refuse to bloom. One is looking as if its thinking about trying the experience by tentatively dropping a leaf here and there just to tease me. The poui typically flowers three times times during the dry season with the last flowering said to be the precursor to the rainy season.
The first flowers from my large white begonia. This is not the "bread and cheese" variety but another one with a large green leaf. It is aggressively vigourous but has taken almost two years to bloom. The flower is far sweeter and more demure than many other begonias which makes me think this is probably good old pure stock who has spent time evolving to suit the tropical environment.

The Saman and others

My saman tree is in full bloom at the moment. The blooms are so delicate and gentle that it is hard to believe that this majestic tree produces them. It reminds me a bit of a huge lady dressed in a frilly dress. Incongruous but endearing.
The hummingbirds love this flower and the tree is covered with them at this time of year. Because it is so large, it is a virtual ecosystem for many animals. Squirrels and iguanas are the two that I see most frequently but I would wager that there are not a few snakes, different types of birds nesting and even the occasional manicou (local possum). They all coexist quite happily. I did some research on this tree to see exactly how prevalent it is throughout the tropics. I love this magical tree. We know it as Saman and its preferred scientific name is Samanea saman.Rain tree (Samanea saman) is easily recognized by its characteristic umbrella-shaped canopy. When grown in the open, the tree usually reaches 15–25 m (50–80 ft) in height with a canopy diameter wider than the tree is tall. The wood has limited use for carved bowls in local markets; i
Distribution Native to northern South America, and now naturalized throughout the tropics.
Size Typically reaches 15–25 m (50–80 ft) tall with a broad crown typically 30 m (100 ft) in diameter. Habitat Grows best in the lowlands from sea level to 300 m (1000 ft) with rainfall 600–3000 mm (24–120 in). Growth rate Moderately fast growing with growth rates
of 0.75–1.5 m/yr (2.5–5 ft/yr) per year.
Species Profiles for Pacific Island Agroforestry
www.traditionaltree.org
April 2006
ver. 2.1
The name rain tree has been attributed to the fact that:
• The leaflets are light-sensitive and close together on
cloudy days (as well as from dusk to dawn), allowing
rain to fall through the canopy to the ground below.
• The grass is often much greener under a rain tree
than the surrounding grass.
• A steady drizzle of honeydew is often created by
sap-sucking insects.
• Nectaries on the leaf petioles excrete sugary juice
that sometimes falls from the tree like rain.
• During heavy flowering, stamens can drop from the canopy like rain
I found it interesting to see all the names that this trees is known by in various places around the world-
Common names
Pacific islands
filinganga (Northern Marianas)
gouannegoul, saman (French)
gumorni spanis (Yap)
kasia kula, mohemohe (Tonga)
marmar (New Guinea)
‘ohai (Hawai‘i)
rain tree, monkey pod, saman (English)
tamalini, tamaligi (Samoa)
trongkon-mames (Guam)
vaivai ni vavalangi, sirsa (Fiji)
Other regions
acacia, palo de China (Philippines)
algarrobo, algarrobo del país, carreto negro, delmonte, dormilón,
guannegoul, samán (Spanish)
gouannegoul, saman (French)

I'm pretty sure that I have posted some of these images before. But I was digging in my archives and came across them. Today is an atypical rainy day and I think this grey weather needs some cheering up. Where is the sun? A bouquet of heliconias or cocoa lilies. This one is Heliconia psittacorum 'St. Vincent Red'
A bunch of red ginger lilies or alpinia purpurata.
A mixed bunch of heliconias. I think that this is Heliconia Psitticorum cv. St Vincent Red and Heliconia Psitticorum 'Sassy' (the one with pink in the background) The purple Musa banana.

My Double Chaconia.Can anyone ID this orchid?

Snorkel Safari

We went snorkelling in Labadee, Haiti and having snorkelled in Key Largo and Tobago, it was interesting to compare the experience. I was very impressed with the set up and the staff was great. Conrad, our tour guide, was excellent and all his staff were really professional and good fun. And this snorkel boat had some of the best music that I've heard in long time and great Presidente beer which is made in the Dominican Republic. You can also buy a CD of their best underwater shots or rent an underwater 6mp digital camera for your own pics. The ones that I am posting come from Conrad's CD. The quirky coral below is known as Featherduster coral.The day that we snorkelled, the water was a bit murky however the reef was full of interesting coral (including the notorious fire coral which I know well from Tobago) and anemones like the one above.Above is a close up of Brain Coral and it does like eeriely brain-like. An underwater seascape is as complex as any garden. Amazingly, however, all the "flowers" and "trees" can be hundreds of years old. Visiting a coral reef is amazing just to see the variety of colours and textures. The colour palette is so different underwater. It is not unusual to find bright yellows, deep indigos and swirling patterns.
The freedom underwater can be intoxicating.

Weightlessness and silence except for the sound of your breathing is deeply relaxing. It's one of the reasons that I am actually wary of diving.
The few times that I have gone diving- I am always lulled into a sense of false complacency which I know can be dangerous. So I think it's snorkelling for me from now on.

I would have loved to have this experience but we did not see any turtles.

This colour green is definitely an underwater colour because even with all the shades of green in my garden, none come close to this particualr shade.A seahorse. I have seen them down the islands but only at a distance. Seaurchins are a delicacy in many islands as the inside of this rather formidable exterior is delicious but they can be the ruination of your holiday if you stand on one. Another seen it, done it, got the Tshirt experience from Tobago. Not a pleasant memory.

Snorkelling in Haiti was excellent and if you ever make it to Labadee, it's well worth the adventure.