Papua New Guinea’s Unique Cocoa Flavors Rediscovered

Papua New Guinea is the birthplace of some of the most flavorful cocoa beans around the world. But the beans’ natural flavor has consistently been influenced by the local traditional method for drying: wood fire. Farmers dried their beans like this because of the very high humidity. The smoke however had a huge impact on the natural flavor. To solve this issue, we began working hand-in-hand with farmers in 2018 through the Cacao-Trace program.

We implemented the purest possible method of drying, using the sun. Gently, carefully, slowly, farmers dry the cocoa beans. Today, Cacao-Trace is working with 131 fermentation and drying experts in Papua New Guinea and each one is equipped with a solar dryer. A solar dryer is a raised structure made out of wood with an open bed. There is a tarp which can cover the bed in case it rains. If it is sunny it is left open to receive direct sunlight. The traditional system looks like a small cabin with a raised mesh metal bed, below there is a kiln pipe which is fed with wood to create heat in order to dry the beans resting on the bed above.

All farmers in the Cacao-Trace community are trained by Cacao-Trace local trainers. The trainings include all Cacao-Trace standards in which optimized sun drying techniques are reviewed.

Jeffery Malio is one of the local drying and fermentation experts in Papua New Guinea. As a father of four, he lives in Angoram district and has been growing cocoa for more than 25 years. He grew up with cocoa and learned this craftsmanship from his parents. Before June 2018 he was using a wood burning dryer, but now he is using a solar dryer and he says that he is saving time and costs. “I used to spend around 150 kina ($44 US) per ton to dry cocoa but now there is no cost. On top of this, collecting wood took me around two to three hours a day! Thanks to this natural drying I’m able to spend more time with my family.”

In the case of chocolate, fermentation unleashes the flavor potential of the cocoa beans. That is why Cacao-Trace cocoa is fermented in local post-harvest centers by fermentation experts. We have launched our local post-harvest centers in six different cocoa producing countries: Côte d’Ivoire, Vietnam, Philippines, Mexico, Uganda, and Papua New Guinea. Cacao-Trace sets new standards and guidelines for the fermentation process. We create optimal conditions for fermentation by carefully selecting fresh cocoa beans and by controlling the temperature and aeration of the fermenting cocoa. This way, every Cacao-Trace farmer’s beans meet the highest quality standards, ensuring a consistent superior taste.