Sarangani farmer finds rare durian-tasting cacao in his farm

GENERAL SANTOS, Philippines – In the lush hinterlands of Malungon town, Sarangani province, a retired corporate executive turned farmer has stumbled upon a rare variety of the tropical fruit cacao but tastes like the exotic durian. 

It was from a peculiar tree with a fruit unlike anything he had ever seen. 

Little did he know that the “strange” fruit was a jaguar cacao from the exotic species Theobroma bicolor found in Central and South America.

Edmundo Cejar, now in his seventies, used to have a jet-setting life in The Netherlands, but he now lives a simple life cultivating a variety of crops and trees on his farm.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is a fruit familiar to Cejar, who has a diverse collection of crops and trees on his sprawling 30-hectare Rio Vista Farm and Forest. Located along a babbling stream, this verdant property is shared among Cejar, his siblings, and his children.

Four years ago, Cejar planted trees using six cacao seeds from his sister Helen, who owns a farm in Digos City. At the time, he was clueless as to what exactly the variety or species was. 

Cejar said Helen just informed him that the beans from the rare cacao tree they “discovered” near their farm could be roasted and ground like regular cacao to make tablea or chocolate blocks. 

“Like durian (Durio zibethinus) which falls when already ripe, we waited until the fruit fell to the ground,” Cejar said.

Excited to learn more about this strange fruit, Cejar decided to open it up to get a taste.

To his surprise, the fruit had a strong durian-like aroma and tasted like one.

“It was my first time to harvest and taste this kind of fruit – cacao durian or durian cacao?” Cejar told Rappler on Tuesday, March 21.

Unlike the cacao he is familiar with, the flesh covering the seeds of the fruit could be eaten fresh. 

The tree bore fruit at the tip of its branches rather than hanging from its trunk and branches like durian. 

Engineer Nenita Barroso of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in Sarangani, who was there when the fruit was opened, said it smelled like durian and “the taste is a mix of jackfruit and durian.”

According to Seeds del Mundo, a website specializing in tropical seeds and exotic fruits, Theobroma bicolor is closely related to cacao and is mainly found in Central and South America, as well as the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, Suriname, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Excited, Cejar shared his discovery on his Facebook page, which quickly went viral, drawing thousands of reactions, comments, and queries from netizens eager to learn more about his find.

While Theobroma bicolor is closely related to cacao, its flesh is what sets it apart from its counterparts. Unlike other varieties of cacao he is familiar with, its flesh is thick around the kernel and is mainly consumed as is, rather than being roasted for chocolate production.

According to Seeds del Mundo, the seeds of Theobroma bicolor can still be processed into cocoa, although the quality may be somewhat lower than that of its counterparts. 

The seeds contain less fat but more protein and fiber, requiring adjustments to be made when making chocolate from them.

Despite the lower quality of the cocoa produced, Cejar said he was still eager to propagate the rare tree that could stand tall at up to eight meters.

“If you can wait, I will germinate and make seedlings out of the 21 seeds in the pod and propagate it,” Cejar, joking, told netizens who asked for seedlings. – Rappler.com