(The Conversation) — A shortage of cocoa beans has led to a near shutdown of processing plants in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, the two countries responsible for 60% of global production.

The cacao trees mature at five years and begin to flower on the trunk. The flowers are pollinated by midges, a small fly.

Cocoa powder is made from cacao beans, which come from the plant Theobroma cacao L. Cacao beans are the primary ingredient in chocolate, but they can also be ground into cocoa powder. The powder ...

Cocoa was the best-performing commodity in 2024 ... at helping farmers—and a fast-moving virus that has ravaged their plants.

It takes about five years before a cacao tree is mature enough to start producing beans, and the plants remain fragile in the first few years of their life, he says. All the while, consumers ...

Cacao beans held great prominence in the daily lives ... a drink made from the cocoa-plant, which they said he took before visiting his wives." The Spaniards noted that the Aztecs could walk ...

Rains were scarce in most of top grower Ivory Coast's main cocoa regions last week and more are needed to boost the ...

Researchers at the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology have investigated how fava beans could affect the mouthfeel of ...