A New Kind of Chocolate . . . In Peru!

Did you know that chocolate is influenced by the region where it's grown? Depending on the country from which it comes, a cacao bean can have complex changes in flavor. Recently, scientists from the USDA's Agricultural Research Service reported discovering three previously unknown varieties of wild cacao in Peru.

But what does this Peruvian chocolate taste like, you ask?

Sadly for chocoholics, it will be several years before we get to find out. Cacao is a slow-growing tree; it takes at least five years for a tree to bear pods. So it will be a long while yet before the saplings now growing at a central collection spot in Tarapoto, Peru, yield enough beans to turn into chocolate.*

I think the takeaway from this news is twofold:

1. Be on the lookout for Peruvian chocolate in a few years.
2. Try chocolate from other regions of the world! (Apparently, Bolivian chocolate is amazing.

*Source: In Peru, A Hunt for Chocolate like You've Never Tasted It.