Amelonado cacao strain

Amelonado is one of those ten evolutionarily unique types identified in 2008 using samples collected throughout the Americas over the previous century. This particular cluster type represents a traditional cultivar believed to have been domesticated from the Brazilian Amazon, possibly near what is now called the Para River. It’s now one of the most common cacao cultivars in the world, and often held up as the typical example of a forastero cacao: deeply chocolaty & bitter, with strong earthy undertones and a large, round pod. Most of the cacao brought to Africa in the 18th and 19th centuries originally came from this cultivar type, leading to the Ghanaian varietal now known as the West African Amelonado.