Cacao is harvested year-round, with the main harvest season running from November to June.
We typically pick every two to three weeks, with smaller harvests in July and September.
Most farmers extract the beans right in the forest — it’s faster and easier.
Seeds are scooped out of the fruit, tossed into bags, and hauled to fermentation in bulk.
But there’s a catch: this method compromises cleanliness.
That’s why most industrial chocolate producers are forced to roast the beans later — to kill unwanted microbes.
At Nikola Kalida, we do things differently.
We harvest and transport whole cacao pods to the factory — intact, untouched.
Yes, it takes more time and effort.
But we’re not here to cut corners.
We’re here to make real chocolate, the way nature intended.
We begin by washing every cacao pod in a gentle baking soda solution — a natural, food-safe way to ensure cleanliness.
Our machetero team opens each pod with care, using a special technique that avoids touching the seeds by hand — as shown in our video.
A second team carefully separates the seeds from the surrounding pulp.
From there, the fresh seeds are placed into our custom-designed fermentation baths.
And it’s during these first few hours that something remarkable happens:
we collect the rare, sweet liquid that drips from the fresh seeds —
a golden elixir we call the Nectar of Youth.
Very few people in the world have ever tasted cacao nectar.
It’s rare, delicate, and incredibly hard to obtain — a truly living product.
This thick, sweet nectar naturally coats the seeds inside the cacao pod.
We share more about this during our tours of the Nikola Kalida factory and plantations.
From around 50 full-size pods, we can collect just 200 grams of nectar — and only if the process is done with absolute cleanliness.
Before fermentation begins, we gently skim off the excess juice that naturally settles at the bottom of our custom fermentation baths,
pressed down by the weight of the fresh seeds.
It’s a small window. A precise method.
But the result? Something truly extraordinary.
Cacao harvesting happens year-round, with the main season running from November to May.
We typically harvest in small batches every two weeks, with additional mini-harvests in June and September.
After each round of processing, we carefully clean the area and return the leftover cacao rinds back to the plantations.
Over the next few months, they naturally break down into rich organic fertilizer, feeding the soil for future harvests.
This is how we keep our cacao production clean, circular, and waste-free — just as nature intended.
And this is only the first stage of the cacao journey.
Next, we’ll show you how we ferment the beans, dry them under the tropical sun, and finally transform them into extraordinary chocolate.