The super exciting news this month is that chocolate from Chocolarder will be on our counters from the 17th. This year, we have chosen two bars: the Ponta Figo, which uses cocoa beans from São Tomé, and the other is the Candied Orange Peel Browned Butter which is made with cocoa beans from Öko Caribe in the Dominican Republic. The Candied Orange uses orange peel from Natoora which is a byproduct of the orange juice they make. Chocolarder collect the peel and candy it for their chocolate. We also have boxes of Winter Spiced Almonds which have a light dusting of cinnamon and a full enrobing of dark chocolate made from Cuencas cocoa beans from Peru – delicious. It has been an exciting year for Chocolarder, culminating in their nomination for the BBC Food and Farming awards 2025. At the time of writing Chocolarder are one of three finalists for the Food Innovation Award which is judged this year by Dan Saladino. We wish them all the best!
On to the upcoming coffee harvests. As coffee is grown all around the world, there is always a crop about to start, or one which is finishing, or one beginning its flowering. Coffee may only crop once a year in each country, but there is always something happening on the farms. In Ethiopia and Kenya harvesting is beginning this month. The first pickings will often be processed naturally, while the processing stations wait for the first big flush of the crop to arrive. Once there is enough coffee coming through, the equipment will be switched on, and it is all hands. Processing often runs deep into the evenings to keep up with the picking as it is happening.
In Central America, the harvest is still a month or so away from starting. This is the time to apply the last round of fertiliser and prepare the beneficios (wet mills) for the upcoming crop. The machinery must be in good working order as once the crop starts there really is no time for maintenance. Any repairs to drying facilities or patios will also be finalised around now. At the very end of the month, some of the lower altitude regions will begin the first stage of their harvest. There is often a first pass through the trees, then a brief break before the full crop starts to come through in December.
In Bolivia and Peru, the very last of the last harvest is being collected and processed. This is often referred to as a sanitary or hygiene harvest. All remaining cherry is removed from the trees and the ground, processed using the natural method, and typically not sold to the international markets. The cherry is removed as it is attractive to pests and potentially fungus which can quickly spread throughout a farm. After this late harvest, preparations for the new crop begin. In Brazil the first flowerings can start in November; this is the first stage of coffee growth that will mature in the following June. And in Colombia, the main harvest will be starting in Huila. We will be buying coffee from this harvest in December and January.
Next month we will have a traditional round up of all things Christmas.
Monmouth x
