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Hi, I currently live in the States and make chocolate (bean to bar) as a hobby. I have been buying organic Costa Rican cacao beans from a chocolatier on the East Coast here and as much as I appreciate their sharing, I am paying nearly 10 times what they should cost a kilo in Costa Rica. A friend of mine will be visiting next week (a few days in Arenal, a few days in Manuel Antonio and coming and going via San Jose). She has agreed to bring back some beans for me, but I’d love to be able to tell her where she can buy them (farmers’ market? store?) without spending a lot of time looking or taking a tour that doesn’t interest her.
If anyone can help me out with info on where to buy them, I sure would appreciate it.These would not be allowed legally, to be exported/imported into the USA, as when they are offered at a local market, they are usually still ‘wet’ and are considered ‘seeds’ and I am sure you want more than just ‘a hand full of beans’, so this could be a hurdle. I see them very seldom offered for sale. To export/import them legally, you need a Phytosanitary Certificate which will not be easy for her to get. The same rules apply to unroasted coffee beans.
The fruit may be more available in the Puerto Viejo area where there is a large plantation of Cacao trees.
Maybe someone has more information to offer you.Costaricafinca, thank you for your prompt, informative (albeit disappointing) response. I had tried to research whether there were import restrictions, but had not considered that the beans would qualify as seeds since I was thinking of fermented and dried beans. I had also read about people bringing back beans from Finmac or one of the large plantations, but I guess the plantation owners have gone through the necessary hoops. Thanks again.
I am sure you can purchase direct from a company that sells them from a plantation, but where that would be, I don’t know. Again, I would expect you are interested in a larger quantity, rather than a few beans. The finished organic chocolate bars here contain no preservatives so are hard to find, but sometimes some of the better hotels may sell them. We tried to find some As mentioned what we see here, is usually the raw fruit. Possibly in the Central market they would sell the product as you would usually purchase it.
Cacao farming is not a huge business here now, as most of the plantations were wiped out due to a fungal disease many years ago. And it does require special conditions to grow. I know, as we have tried to grow it here, and so far it has been unsuccessful.:(
Many have a tree or two in their garden, but don’t do anything with it.
I have just remembered I had saved a supplement from the Tico Times from Aug 8th, 2003 and tried to take a tour when in that area, but it was closed, and kept just in case we are over that way, again.
You can purchase this issue from the Tico Times, but this old email contact for this is cacaochiquita@yahoo.com. I does say that the finished product is sold at Feria de agricultura organico every Sat 6-noon near the Paso Ancho rotonda.
This is probably more than you wanted to know….:roll:
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