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

Published 2024년 1월 21일

Tridge summary

After years of unsuccessful attempts, researchers in Malaga found success in growing cocoa in a controlled greenhouse project, producing a first harvest in 2022. The project was initiated by a proposal from a Sevillian chocolate company and involved manual pollination and growing four different types of cocoa. While the initial yield was limited, the success has sparked interest from the chocolate industry and could potentially lead to limited production for exclusive markets in the future.

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Original content

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 ...

Source: PEefeagro