Spanish cocoa is a reality after a hundred years of failed attempts

Attempts to grow cocoa in Malaga go back hundreds of years, always outdoors and in all cases with unsuccessful results, until 2022 when a first harvest was born. It was the result of a controlled greenhouse project, a success that is still incipient but has already sparked the interest of the chocolate industry. Those responsible for this achievement, unique in Europe, are the researchers from the Institute of Subtropical and Mediterranean Horticulture (IHSM) La Mayora, in Malaga, a joint center belonging to the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the University of Malaga. The stimulus for its launch came in 2019 from the private sector, specifically from the Sevillian chocolate company La Despensa de Palacio, which proposed to the head of Subtropical Fruit Growing at the IHSM, Iñaki Hormaza, the possibility of trying to have some Andalusian cocoa production. . The IHSM had been working for many years with different tropical fruit crops, both for outdoor and ...