In the northwest of Madagascar, in the area of Ambanja, the micro-climatic conditions, humidity and warm climate are absolutely ideal to obtain the best Cocoa of the world to produce.
The Cocoa tree (Theobroma Cacao) grows in the shade of other, taller treesin warm and humid climate of tropical countries. In Madagascar it is almost only found in the area of Ambanja and Ambilobe grown in somewhat larger quantities. It is a fast-growing tree that can reach 15 m in height, but mostly it is pruned to facilitate the harvesting of the fruit.
Madagascar is not very well known as Cocoa producing country, although most Chocolate experts know the high quality of Madagascar's organically grown cocoa.
Madagascar has a long history of cocoa production, which is limited to a radius of only about 50 km in the Sambirano Valley at Ambanja, production in Madagascar is only 1% of world production (for comparison, Ivory Coast in West Africa brings it to 38% of world production).
The climatic conditions allow a continuous harvest throughout the year, the varieties of cocoa grown are Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario.
Throughout the production area, the Cocoa in natural environment grown by simple farmers without any pesticides and artificial fertilizers, they are by no means plantations as known from West Africa.
Madagascar chocolate from the Sambirano area has a very light, fruity citrus flavor, and is naturally sweet, which is an advantage for non-bitter chocolate, as there is much less need for artificial sweetening.
There are now three chocolate manufacturers who process the cocoa from Ambanja in Madagascar.
The Chocolaterie Robert has been around since 1937, Cinagra exists since 2006, and the Chocolaterie Colbert is sold only as a luxury product at the Hotel Colbert in Antananarivo, where everything is handmade.
Madagascar, as I said, has no industrial production, so you can find Chocolate from Madagascar, apart from a few stores in France, very rare in Europe.
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