Cocoa beans

Varieties

Cocoa beans are traditionally classified into three main varieties: Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario. Use of these terms has changed across different contexts and times, and recent genetic research has found that the categories of Forastero and Trinitario are better understood as geohistorical inventions rather than as having a botanical basis. They are still used frequently in marketing material. Criollo has traditionally been the most prized variety. Believed to have been native to South America, by the time of the Spanish conquest they were grown in Mesoamerica. After European colonization, disease and population decrease led to the Spanish and Portuguese using different cacao varieties from South America. Different from the Criollo beans, these new beans were named Forastero, which can be translated as strange or foreign. They are generally of the Amelonado type and are associated with West Africa. Trinitario refers to any hybrid between Criollo and Forastero.