Wanted: (RAW) lightly fermented unroasted Cacoa Beans

I am looking for bulk wholesale beans that have been ethically grown and processed in the RAW intentional way. Anybody know of a good supplier(s)? Thanks, Brian

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Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on August 22, 2011 at 11:20am

What kinds of quantities are you looking for ... and do you have an idea of what price you'd like to pay?

Permalink Reply by B Strong on August 22, 2011 at 1:34pm

At this point we are just starting out and would like to sample @ 10 Kg. or 22 lbs. increments. Not opposed to trying different varieties from different regions of the world. Always looking for a price point that works for us and the supplier for fair trade quality cacao. Knowing that once we find what we are looking for we will purchase larger quantities and get a price break. It has to be RAW cacao bean no compromise. B Strong

Permalink Reply by Clay Gordon on August 22, 2011 at 1:51pm

Free sampling in 10kg quantities is not likely to happen; 1kg is the industry standard. Expect to pay for larger samples.

To the best of my knowledge there is no such thing as "raw - no compromise" that is also Fairtrade certified. To the best of my knowledge, there is also no such thing as "fair trade quality" standard in cacao. One of the tragedies of the social certifications (Fairtrade, Rainforest Alliance, et al) is that they don't care a whit about product quality when it comes to cocoa.

Unfermented is easy - just get some Sanchez from the DR; you can get some good beans this way. Even places like the Hacienda Elvesia, who sells beans to Felchlin for their Cru Hacienda, will just dry some beans without fermenting beforehand when the prices being offered don't pay for the cost of the extra labor.

However, one of "raw" cocoa's little secrets that few people want to talk about is that the temperatures on the drying table (or pad or however it's being dried) can easily exceed 125F and often reach 140F and higher. So, the temperature of fermentation is not the only issue to consider when thinking about raw.

I don't know if the folks from Big Tree Farms in Bali are selling their beans (I do know they sell semi-finished product), but they are the only people I know of who are looking at the entire post-harvest production process and trying to do something that can legitimately be called "raw."

Permalink Reply by Adeir Boida de Andrade on August 24, 2011 at 10:49am

Clay,

You are correct. The temperature of the floor of the solar greenhouse can arrive at 140F to the half day, in the tropical countries. We are making raw cocoa here in Brazil, and we closed the greenhouse of the 11 to 15 o'clock.
Our cocoa is organic certificate and gourmet, and it can be fermented or no, in agreement with the order. We needed 25 to 30 days to prepare an ordered lot.

Permalink Reply by B Strong on August 24, 2011 at 9:00pm

Adeir, you say you are making raw cacoa in Brazil what would a 10 kilo order cost me for the gourmet organic raw unfermented beans? I am in Oregon USA, Thanks

Permalink Reply by Adeir Boida de Andrade on August 24, 2011 at 9:12pm

B Strong,
Please, send a message for adeir@planetacacau.com.br
Thank you

Permalink Reply by B Strong on August 22, 2011 at 2:24pm

Gordon thanks for your reply the reason I said 10 kg. is because this is the smallest amount I have seen to put an order in with at a wholesale cost. Wasn't implying a free sample, was implying that I would purchase that amount and use this for a production sample. Big tree farms is who I am working with at this point and very satisfied with quality of beans that they procure. B Strong

Permalink Reply by Eric Durtschi on August 24, 2011 at 11:24am

I currently have Sanchez and Ecuador beans that are lightly fermented and sun dried. However, as Clay stated, they can get above the 140 in some cases. If you are interested, let me know.

Permalink Reply by Ben Ripple on September 1, 2011 at 11:07pm

Selamat Choco-Friends!

Greetings from Bali! Terima Kasih (gratitude) Clay for the props....Big Tree Farms is indeed working on creating not only a truly RAW supply chain for cacao and cacao products, but we're very intent at doing this within the framework of Social Development and with a special emphasis on food safety.

As Clay points out below, unfermented beans are an easy one; Heck, Indonesia is the world's largest producer of unfermented beans in the world! But i wouldn't want to be munching away on these little seeds. Typically, unfermented cacao is used for grinders to extract butter and grind powder while fermented beans are sold for grinding into paste(liqour) and production of chocolate. Of course nothing ever is black and white so understand that my statements are generalizations.

Cacao for some reason (and perhaps Clay and others can weigh in on this) tends to be highly susceptible (more so in my experience) to yeasts, molds and bacteria growth than most other tropical seeds. At Big Tree Farms we feel that this issue is the clearest and most present danger to the future of a safe and successful Raw Cacao/Chocolate trade. To this end we have been working on the entire process from pod to pack-out to identify the risk points and create solutions that work without damaging the quality of the cacao.

If you are interested in learning more about our programs please dont hesitate to contact us!

ripple@bigtreefarms.com

www.bigtreefarms.com

Permalink Reply by Iván Andrade on September 4, 2011 at 10:30am

In Ecuador, the small producers need to get money quickly, why harvested cocoa beans from fine aroma and just sold wet (baba), so it's no problem getting unfermented cocoa RAW. If you are interested, let me know to dissupp@yahoo.com.

Permalink Reply by Barbara Wilson on September 5, 2011 at 5:57pm

We are selling raw fermented beans that we ferment ourselves in sanitary conditions, covered, naturally dried on clean beds. We purchase only the healthy beans right as they are taken out of the pods. No monilla. I agree with Ben Ripple there is some risk when working with raw beans, but I think it is low if we are careful to prevent contamination and the chocolate maker removes the shells before processing, which is not that easy to do on raw beans. We sell Ecuadorian Nacional beans.

Permalink Reply by Sacred Steve on October 22, 2011 at 1:49am