Cacao varieties - follow your taste buds!
There are two broad families of cacao, criollo and forestero, and a hybrid of the two families known as trinitario.
Criollo (meaning 'of the new world') is the original cacao consumed by the Maya and is prized today as by far the best tasting cacao variety. Maya lords grew criollo cacao trees in gardens and small plantations all over Central America. However, difficulties in cultivation mean that today criollo cacao is only used by specialist chocolate makers like Ah Cacao who care about great tasting chocolate above all else.
Forastero (meaning 'foreign), a wild relative to criollo, was discovered in the Amazon jungle. Forastero cacao doesn't have the fine taste of criollo and is known as 'bulk' cacao in the industry. Even so, forastero now accounts for over 90% of the cacao grown in the world due to its resistance to disease. The poor taste of forastero cacao is one of the reasons that candy bar manufacturers started to add so much milk and sugar to their chocolate flavored snacks (the high cost of good cacao is another reason).
Trinitario (meaning 'from Trinidad') cacao seems to have been created by an accidental cross-fertilization of criollo and forastero cacao trees on the island of Trinidad in around 1730. Trinitario cacao combines some of the superior criollo taste with the hardiness of forastero.
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