Grow Your Own Chocolate

Cocoa (Theobroma cacao)

Outside of the tropics, the only place you’re likely to see a cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao, the trees that give us chocolate) is in a heated greenhouse at the botanical gardens. They can be grown as house plants, and seeds germinate easily when they’re fresh, but their size, their requirement for heat and the fact that you need two plants for pollination means that they’re unlikely to bear fruit. And even if they did, the process of turning cocoa beans into chocolate is a long one.

But if you’re a chocoholic gardener, all is not lost. There are some plants that will happily grow in your garden that have a chocolate scent or flavour. The most well known of these is the Chocolate Cosmos (Cosmos atrosanguinea), a sun-loving perennial with brownish-red blooms, reminiscent of dahlias. These blooms are produced prolifically from June to September and will scent the afternoon breeze with vanilla-tinged chocolate. Your plants won’t survive a cold snap though, so you’ll need to life the tubers for winter storage before the frosts set in.

Another plant that emits a chocolatey aroma is the Chocolate Scented Daisy (Berlandiera lyrata), another perennial that appreciates a sunny spot. It has yellow flowers and chocolate brown stamens, and a lovely chocolate scent that is most pungent in the morning. These open flowers attract beneficial insects to your garden, and the plant itself makes a good container specimen.

But if it’s the taste of chocolate that you crave then try Chocolate Mint (also known as Chocolate Peppermint). This hardy perennial is as easy to grow as any mint, and has a real after dinner mint scent and flavour – making it an ideal addition to desserts. What’s more, the bees will go mad for its purple flowers.

And if you have a damp and shady spot in your garden, consider growing Water Avens (Geum rivale) – a hardy perennial that grows around a foot tall. A chocolate-like drink can be made from the roots, either fresh or dried. In the past they’ve also been used to flavour beer, and when dried also make a good moth repellent!

This is one of the articles I wrote for Green Thumb. I was runner-up in the May competition to write the most articles; you can read all of them on the Green Thumb site.

© Copyright Emma Cooper, 2008. All rights reserved.

Posted 6 June 2008, 13:10.  

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