| Cocoa beans grow on trees. It takes anywhere from | | | | various factories for sorting and cleaning, although if |
| three to five years for a cocoa tree to start | | | | they were purchased by a candy manufacturer, this |
| producing the beans. Because these beans are so | | | | process is usually done at the candy factory. To be |
| small and delicate, they are not harvested by | | | | on the safe side, you should definitely wash your |
| machine. They are hand picked. The beans grow in | | | | cocoa beans, sort them, and allow them to fully dry |
| pods, and those pods are what are picked. | | | | before roasting them. |
| Even after the pods are picked, the crop must be | | | | Factories are set up for mass production, however |
| made ready for shipment by hand. The product is | | | | the real cost of the cocoa beans, and therefore |
| then shipped to the buyer. Buyers buy through the | | | | chocolate, comes in the growing and harvesting |
| Coffee, Sugar, and Cocoa Exchange. | | | | process. Since it is all done by hand, this requires a lot |
| Cocoa beans are publicly traded on the futures | | | | of labor. Furthermore, the labor required is quite |
| market, in contracts. These contracts are purchased | | | | manual, and considered to be 'back breaking' work. |
| by candy manufacturers, exporters, cocoa importers, | | | | So, when you are shopping for cocoa beans and |
| and trade representatives. Often the beans are | | | | your eyes are bugging out over the prices, picture a |
| bought and sold before they are ever harvested. | | | | field of cocoa trees with hundreds of people working |
| Once the beans are harvested, they are shipped to | | | | very hard to grow and harvest those beans! |
| the destination that they are meant for - the | | | | Somehow, that makes paying the price for them a |
| businesses that own the futures contracts. This is | | | | little easier, and a little more justifiable. |
| where you come in, for the most part, although the | | | | Also note that actually buying mass produced |
| beans may be bought and sold several more times | | | | chocolate is actually cheaper than making it yourself. |
| before they are available in the public market place - | | | | If you pay ten dollars for about eight ounces of |
| such as that online store where you plan to order | | | | cocoa beans, you can purchase about 17 ounces of |
| your cocoa beans from. | | | | ready made chocolate (pure chocolate) for the same |
| On top of this, the cocoa beans are often sent to | | | | amount of money. |