Cocoa

 Cocoa Beginnings in Ghana

        Legend has it that the first cocoa beans were smuggled into Ghana from the Ivory Coast in 1879 by this man, Tetteh Quarshie.

        We visited this still active small plot of land to get a flavor of the beginnings of cocoa farming in Ghana.

Elder and Sister Watson from Virginia, Family History Missionaries

        The cocoa beans are encased in the white creamy substance that is sweet to the taste as you suck on the beans. The white "flower" above is the placenta that encases the beans. The beans are allowed to dry and then to ferment for two weeks in the sun, producing a ghastly smell. Ghana produces only about 20% of the cocoa that they could produce with better practices and less governmental controls. This was a nice look into the past. Someday we will visit the large plantation and producer of cocoa that is also in the area.