The first cocoa plantation in Iceland recently had its first harvest, as reported by RÚV. Cocoa plants have been cultivated at the Horticultural School in Reykir since being planted in 2013.
“As far as we know, this is the first cacao fruit that has fully ripened in Iceland,” says horticulturist Guðríður Helgadóttir, adding that the plants started to blossom three years ago, but the first harvest still came as a surprise. It’s unclear how the cacao plants were fertilised since the flies that normally fertilise them do not live in Iceland.
“There are somewhat fewer beans than I’m used to seeing in a fully ripe fruit, but considering that it’s the first cacao fruit that has grown in Iceland, it’s very normal that it’s not totally perfect in the first go,” says Kjartan Gíslason, the co-founder and the head chocolate maker at Omnom. “It’s really exciting.”
It took nine days to ferment the beans; then, they were roasted and hand-made into dark chocolate at the Omnom factory. While tasting the chocolate, Guðríður and Kjartan agreed it tastes a bit like coffee.
Grab some delicious Omnom chocolate bars at Grapevine Store while you watch a video from our visit to the Omnom factory.
Read the full interview with Kjartan Gíslason here.
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