Hi new friends,This is interesting, a forum for chocolate fans. While chocolate is my favorite candy, my main interest is getting my maybe 800 or so trees which I planted in 1984 back into shape after being abandoned for some 15 years. I'm on the south Pacific side of Costa Rica, 400 meters altitude, 200 inches of rain with a jan-march dry season. I won't bore you here with the details, but feel free to ask anything you want about growing.As we know, great chocolates are often combined with great nuts, and sometimes dried fruits. I have a great collection of tropical fruits and nuts, some of which would be great in chocolate, like dried rambutan or langsat, paradise cream (monkey pot) nuts, pili nuts, etc. I do not have enough land to be a major producer of these but am looking for crops that my neighbors could plant, a market for those crops, or to help any cacao farmers in other areas diversify into complementary crops, or exchange rare fruits native to their areas.
updated by @jesse-blenn: 04/17/15 19:00:03

Hi Jesse,I think there will be no shortage of folks hoping to buy good-quality beans, nuts and fruit from you! Talk to Clay, see if he will market your beans.Good luck,Duffy

Hi JesseWelcome to the group. I would be interested to hear any comments you have on your experience of restoring your plantation. There are a lot of abandoned trees in the South Pacific, so rehabilitation is an interesting topic for us and growers we are involved with.Also, do you do your own fermentation and drying?