The most basic element of terroir is the soil that food is grown in. The soils chemical composition lends itself to how the plant grows and what it tastes like. Everything about the dirt can impact the plants growing in it including soil quality, moisture levels, mineral/rock composition, levels of organic matter in the soil, and so much more. When it comes to cacao most of it is grown twenty degrees north or south of the equator and the soil quality tends to blacking. As a result cacao tends to grow best around areas with volcanic activity, the minerals in magma cool and get weathered and provide a fresh source of nutrients for nearby soils. Particles can be carried with wind or rain to the soil plots being farmed from there acids from biota break down nutrients in the soils and they mix with groundwater to get absorbed by the cacao plants. Through this process, cacao farming is possible within its equatorial boundaries with the oxisol soils available there.
Group 10 – Fall Quarter 2015