COCOA is emerging as a commercial niche market option for farmers in the tropics to keep up with demand for a unique Australian chocolate.
Daintree Estates Chocolate has put the fledgling industry on the map, rewarding the persistence of the Puglisi family who were among the pioneers, planting their first trees seven years ago.
“Cocoa production will rise significantly as more trees reach maturity, but we need to encourage new growers to join us,” said Gerard Puglisi who farms at Miallo north of Port Douglas with his wife Terese and father Angelo.
The crop which is traditionally grown in tropical Asia has had challenges gaining a foothold in Australia since serious research and trials began more than a decade ago.
“It needs very precise management, particularly during the first couple of years to get established,” Gerard said.
His family have been farming in the region on the edge of the Daintree rainforest for about 90 years, mostly focused on growing sugarcane to supply Mossman mill.
“We made the decision to diversify into cocoa during a downturn in the sugar industry and the yields from our 1800 trees on less than two hectares have been improving each year.”
Cocoa is very labour intensive and the crop we have is manageable for our family enterprise.
The industry is now concentrated in the Daintree region after early experiments with trial plantings as far south as Ingham with many crops devastated by cyclone Larry followed by cyclone Yassi in 2011.
“We have experienced some cyclone damage, but the biggest impact has been loss of early season flowers and delayed crop rather than significant tree damage,” Gerard said.
“The total area currently under cocoa is only about 10 hectares. I think 40 hectares would be good to give us a baseline production.
Since a group of stakeholders launched Daintree chocolate as a unique vertically integrated product using Mossman sugar in 2010, the market response in both Australia and overseas has been very positive.
Having their unique branded chocolate products to sell has anchored another diversification into farm tours complimented by an information centre and retail outlet on the property.
“Our cocoa is grown in a sheltered environment and the crop is irrigated to give us the precise control we need over the growing season,” Gerard said.
Three varieties have been planted giving an extended harvest from April into December with early and late season peaks.
The trees need significant pruning every year to keep the height down for harvesting from ground level.
Cocoa seed pods can grow anywhere on the tree including the trunk and are typically up to 30 cm long and weighing up to one kilo.
The hard, colourful outer shell affords protection against birds and predators with damage from white tail rats their main concern.
Gerard said it was important to leave the pods on the tree until they were fully ripe to enhance the natural nutritional value of the end product which was rich in nutrients, vitamins and antioxidants.
Once hand harvested, the pods need to be cracked open and the seeds removed within about a week.
Each pod contains about 50 seeds covered in a white mucus which have to be carefully separated from any pieces of shell.
The beans are first fermented, which takes about five to six days.
The fermentation process draws out the natural flavours of the beans.
“Daintree Estates has invested in unique fermenting practices and technology which gives us greater control over the resulting flavour profile. Cocoa naturally has around 500 flavour notes and the uniqueness of each harvest is enhanced by fermenting process.”
Gerard’s trade as a boiler maker has been put to good use designing mobile racking systems which allows the beans to be dried in the open sun and when necessary wheeled indoors for artificial drying.
The final farm product is the dried beans which are sent interstate for contract chocolate manufacturing.
“A range of chocolate products are made in batches to our specification for marketing,” Gerard said.
Daintree Estates maintains its own plant nursery and research breeding program.
Gerard said some new varieties sourced from Papua New Guinea offered the promise of significantly higher yields under far north Queensland conditions.
Cocoa trees maintain peak production from about six to 16 years old and every second tree is commonly cut out when the plantation is about 10 years old.
“It may be possible to graft new varieties onto existing rootstock,” Gerard said.
“I think cocoa has got a bright future in the northern tropics. But there is still a lot we are learning about growing and tree management to get the best results under our local conditions.”
