Listing description
The cocoa bean, also cacao bean[1] or simply cocoa (/ˈkoʊ.koʊ/) or cacao (/kəˈkaʊ/), is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed
of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted.[2] They are the basis of chocolate, as well as many Mesoamerican foods such as mole sauce and tejate.
Detailed description
Etymology
Cocoa can often also refer to
the drink commonly known as hot
chocolate;[6] to cocoa
powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa
butter from
the dark, bitter cocoa solids; or to a mixture of cocoa powder and cocoa
butter.[7][8]
History
The cacao tree is native to the
Americas. It may have originated in the foothills of the Andes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South
America, current day Colombia and Venezuela, where
today, examples of wild cacao still can be found. However, it may have had a
larger range in the past, evidence for which may be obscured because of its
cultivation in these areas long before, as well as after, the Spanish arrived.
New chemical analyses of residues extracted from pottery excavated at an
archaeological site at Puerto Escondido in Honduras indicate that it was here where cocoa
products were first consumed between 1400 and 1500 BC. The new evidence also
indicates that, long before the flavor of the cacao seed (or bean) became
popular, it was the sweet pulp of the chocolate fruit, used in making a
fermented (5% alcohol) beverage, which first drew attention to the plant in the
Americas.[9] The cocoa bean was a common currency
throughout Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest.[10]
Cacao trees will grow in a
limited geographical zone, of approximately 20 degrees to the north and south of
the Equator. Nearly 70% of the world crop today is grown in West Africa. The
cacao plant was first given its botanical name by Swedish natural scientist Carl
Linnaeus in his
original classification of the plant kingdom, who called it Theobroma ("food of the gods") cacao.
Cocoa was an important
commodity in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. A
Spanish soldier who was part of the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortéstells
that when Moctezuma II, emperor of the Aztecs,
dined, he took no other beverage than chocolate,
served in a golden goblet. Flavored with vanilla or other spices, his
chocolate was whipped into a froth that dissolved in the mouth. It is reported
that no fewer than 60 portions each day may have been consumed by Moctezuma II,
and 2,000 more by the nobles of his court.[11]
Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards, and
became a popular beverage by the mid 17th century.[12] They also introduced the cacao tree into
the West
Indies and the Philippines. It
was also introduced into the rest of Asia and into West Africa by Europeans. In
the Gold Coast,
modern Ghana, cacao was introduced by an African, Tetteh Quarshie.
Production
Cocoa pod
A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough
and leathery rind about 2 cm (0.79 in) to 3 cm (1.2 in)
thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod). It is filled with
sweet, mucilaginous pulp (called 'baba de cacao' in South
America) with a lemonade like taste enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are
fairly soft and a pale lavender to dark brownish purple color. Due to heat
buildup in the fermentation process, cacao beans lose most of the purplish hue
and become mostly brown in color, with an adhered skin which includes the dried
remains of the fruity pulp. This skin is released easily after roasting by
winnowing. White seeds are found in some rare varieties, usually mixed with
purples, and are considered of higher value.[13][14][15] Historically, white cacao was cultivated by
the Rama
people of Nicaragua.[16]
Varieties
There are three main varieties
of cocoa plant: Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario. The first is the most
widely used, comprising 95% of the world production of cocoa. Cocoa beans of
the Criollo variety are rarer and considered a delicacy.[17] Criollo plantations have lower yields than those of Forastero,
and also tend to be less resistant to several diseases that attack the cocoa
plant, hence very few countries still produce it. One of the largest producers
of Criollo beans is Venezuela (Chuao and Porcelana). Trinitario (from Trinidad) is a
hybrid between Criollo and Forastero varieties. It is considered to be of much
higher quality than Forastero, but has higher yields and is more resistant to
disease than the former.
Harvesting
Cocoa trees grow in hot, rainy
tropical areas within 20° of latitude from the equator.[18] Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one
period per year and a harvest typically occurs over several months. In fact, in
many countries cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year.[19]Pesticides are often applied to the trees to combat capsid bugs and fungicides to fight black pod disease.[20]
Immature cocoa pods have a
variety of colours but most often are green, red, or purple, and as they mature
their colour tends towards yellow or orange, particularly in their creases.[19][21] Unlike most fruiting trees, the cacoa pod
grows directly from the trunk or large branch of a tree rather than from the
end of a branch, similar to jackfruit. This
makes harvesting by hand easier as most of the pods will not be up in the
higher branches. The pods on a tree do not ripen together; harvesting needs to
be done periodically through the year.[19] Harvesting occurs between three and four
times weekly during the harvest season.[19] The ripe and near-ripe pods, as judged by
their colour, are harvested from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree with
a curved knife on a long pole. Care must be used when
cutting the stem of the pod to avoid damaging the junction of the stem with the
tree, as this is where future flowers and pods will emerge.[19][22] It is estimated that one person can harvest
650 pods per day.[20][23]
Harvest processing
The harvested pods are opened
—typically with a machete— to
expose the beans.[19][20] The pulp and cocoa seeds are removed and
the rind is discarded. The pulp and seeds are then
piled in heaps, placed in bins, or laid out on grates for several days. During
this time, the seeds and pulp undergo "sweating", where the thick
pulp liquefies as it ferments. The fermented pulp trickles away, leaving cocoa
seeds behind to be collected. Sweating is important[24] for the quality of the beans, which
originally have a strong bitter taste. If sweating is interrupted, the
resulting cocoa may be ruined; if underdone, the cocoa seed maintains a flavor
similar to raw potatoes and becomes susceptible to mildew. Some
cocoa producing countries distill alcoholic spirits using the liquefied pulp.[25]
A typical pod contains 20 to 50
beans[18] and about 400 dried beans are required to
make one pound - or 880 per kilogram - of chocolate.[18] Cocoa pods weigh an average of 400 grams
(0.88 lb) and each one yields 35 to 40 grams (1.2 to 1.4 oz) dried
beans (this yield is 40–44% of the total weight in the pod).[20] It is estimated one person can separate the
beans from 2000 pods per day.[20][23]
The wet beans are then
transported to a facility so they can be fermented and dried.[20] They are fermented for four to seven days
and must be mixed every two days.[20][23] They are dried for five to fourteen days,
depending on the climate conditions.[20][23] The fermented beans are dried by spreading
them out over a large surface and constantly raking them. In large plantations, this
is done on huge trays under the sun or by using artificial heat. Small
plantations may dry their harvest on little trays or on cowhides.
Finally, the beans are trodden and shuffled about (often using bare human feet)
and sometimes, during this process, red clay mixed with water is sprinkled over the beans to obtain a
finer color, polish, and protection against molds during shipment to factories
in the United
States, the Netherlands,United
Kingdom, and other countries. Drying in the sun is preferable to drying
by artificial means, as no extraneous flavors such as smoke or oil are
introduced which might otherwise taint the flavor.
The beans should be dry for
shipment (usually by sea). Traditionally exported in jute bags, over the last decade, beans are
increasingly shipped in 'Mega-Bulk' bulk parcels of several thousand tonnes at
a time on ships, or in smaller lots of around 25 tonnes in 20 foot containers.
Shipping in bulk significantly reduces handling costs; shipment in bags,
however, either in a ship's hold or in containers, is still common.
Throughout Mesoamerica where they are native, cocoa beans are used
for a variety of foods. The harvested and fermented beans may be ground
to-order at tiendas de
chocolate, or chocolate mills. At these mills, the cocoa can be mixed with
a variety of ingredients such as cinnamon, chili
peppers, almonds, vanilla and other spices to create drinking
chocolate.[26] The ground cocoa is also an important
ingredient in tejate and
a number of savory foods, such as mole.
Cocoa
bean output in 2012
Nearly 5,000,000 tonnes (4,900,000 long
tons; 5,500,000 short
tons) of cocoa are produced each year.
The historical global
production was
1974:
1,556,484 tons,
1984:
1,810,611 tons,
1994:
2,672,173 tons,
2004:
3,607,052 tons.
There were 3.54 million
tonnes of cocoa beans produced in the 2008–2009 growing year,[18] which runs from October to September.[27] Of this total, African nations produced
2.45 million tonnes (69%), Asia and Oceania produced 0.61 million tonnes (17%)
and the Americas produced 0.48 million tonnes (14%).[18] Two African nations, Ivory
Coast and Ghana,
produce more than half of the world's cocoa, with 1.23 and 0.73 million tonnes
respectively (35% and 21%, respectively).[18] In 2012, the largest cocoa-bean producing
countries in the world are as follows.
Consumption
There are different
metrics used for chocolate consumption. The Netherlands has the highest monetary amount of cocoa
bean imports (US$2.1
billion); it is also one of the main ports into Europe. The United
States has
highest amount of cocoa powder imports ($220 million); the US has a large
amount of cocoa complementary products. The United
Kingdom has the
highest amount of retail chocolate ($1.3 billion) and is one of the biggest
chocolate consumption per capita markets.
Cocoa and its products
(including chocolate) are used worldwide. Per capita consumption is poorly
understood, with numerous countries claiming the highest: various reports state
that Switzerland, Belgium, and
the UK have the highest consumption. However,
since there is no clear mechanism to determine how much of a country's
production is consumed by residents and how much by visitors, any data with
respect to consumption remains purely speculative.
Price
$2000/ton
For more information:
mobile: +2348039721941
contact person: emeaba uche
e-mail: emeabau@yahoo.com
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