21. When Christopher Columbus returned to Spain in 1502, he took cocoa beans from America. 22. Green & AMP; Black's says it has a similar policy when buying cocoa beans . 23. While cocoa beans are perishable, they can be held in storage for several years. 24. Eighty percent of the cocoa bean crop is grown by farmers with 10-acre plots. 25. The Ulua Valley was renowned in pre-Columbian America for the quality of its cocoa beans . 26. After a week of baking, my love affair with the cocoa bean has been renewed. 27. Arrivals figures track the amount of cocoa beans shipped to ports by producers for export. 28. Throughout Mesoamerica where they are native, cocoa beans are used for a variety of foods. 29. It also insulated them from price fluctuations caused by political unrest in cocoa bean -producing countries. 30. Samoan cocoa beans are of very high quality and used in fine New Zealand chocolates.
