La Vida Cocoa!

The Old Man of the Wild Cacao Forest ...

Theoldmanoftheforest

... the tree, not me! This majestic wild cacao tree is probably hundreds of years old and is still very productive. Unlike virtually all other cacao varieties, which grow from a single trunk, as you can see there are dozens of trunks and new shoots called chupons. In a "modern" cacao farm the chupons would be pruned. On the wild cacao trees they are not as the unproductive chupons will simply wither and die.

To Posterous, Love Metalab