You would think with so many cacao trees, that chocolate would be a popular treat in Cameroon, but this staple of the rainforest in the southwestern region of the country is more important as an economic commodity. The cacao that is not exported is usually the poorest quality.
Chocolate is important to the people of Big Bekondo and most of the families in the town participated in harvesting the pods, pulling out the beans, and drying them in the sun as part of their livelihood.
While I did not have any spectacular chocolate while in Cameroon, I was impressed by seeing green, red, orange, and yellow pods of cacao hanging from the trees and particularly grateful that for the origins of our cocoa treats and appreciative of the painstaking process that must occur for us to have our fine dark chocolate bars.