A surprise for me - Australia grows cocoa beans

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I was very surprised to learn that Australia produces cocoa beans in addition to producing its own chocolate. I have to admit I hadn’t thought about it much but it seems we have trees growing commercially in far-north Queensland, north-west Western Australia and around Darwin in the Northern Territory. I guess the trees like a hot climate. Producers do rely heavily on imported cocoa beans but domestic manufacturers supply roughly 70-75% by volume of Australian chocolate consumption. Australian researchers have found that the flavour of the chocolate depends to a large degree on where the cocoa was fermented, and this has a larger influence on flavour than the plant itself. Three Queensland locations were chosen for the first project into this idea and researchers are hoping Australia will one day have ‘chocolate regions’ much as it now has ‘wine regions’. The photo is mine but I can't remember where it was taken.