The lands of Central and South America are recognized as the birthplace of the chocolate tree. Now wild-growing cocoa (chocolate tree), belonging to the Sterkuliev family, is almost never found. The plant has become domesticated since the time of the development of South American lands by the Spaniards. It is cultivated on plantations.
Theobroma is the ancient Greek name for the tree, meaning "food of the gods". It truly lives up to its name. Delicacies derived from cocoa beans have a divine taste. Chocolate, be it a hot drink, hard bar, candy, paste or cream, is a constant delight for everyone.
Cocoa growing area
In the regions where the chocolate tree grows, special natural and climatic conditions prevail. It is mainly cultivated in the tropics, stretching across America, Africa and Oceania. African states are the main suppliers of cocoa beans. They supply up to 70% of this product to the world market.
Ghana is recognized as the largest supplier. In the capital of this country - Accra - the mosta large African market where cocoa beans are sold. The harvest of chocolate beans on the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) reaches 30% of the total amount produced in the world. Indonesia is also considered a major market player.
Chocolate trees are widely harvested in Bali, where the combination of mountain climate and fertile volcanic soils is ideal for growing cocoa. Cocoa seeds are shipped from Nigeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Malaysia and Colombia.
Cocoa growing conditions
It is difficult to find a tree more whimsical than cocoa. It requires special living conditions. An incredible sissy - a chocolate tree - can develop and bear fruit only in multi-tiered tropical forests. The plant settles in the lower tier of the forest. Where shade and dampness do not disappear, and the temperature regime is kept at marks from + 24 to + 28 0 С.
It loves places with fertile, loose soils covered with fallen leaves, where it rains incessantly and there are no winds. Such growing conditions can only be created by a canopy that forms in multi-tiered tropical rainforests.
For example, in the Amazon basin with the onset of the rainy season, when the tributaries of the river, overflowing their banks, turn the lowlands into endless lakes a meter deep, each chocolate tree stands practically in water for many weeks. However, under such conditions, plants do not rot, but, on the contrary, continue to develop.
Growing a chocolate tree on plantations
The capricious chocolate tree is demanding on the temperature regime. It is not capable of development at all if the temperature does not rise above 21 0 C. The optimal temperature for its growth is 40 0 C. And at the same time, direct sunlight is harmful to him.
Therefore, in order to ensure the normal growth of trees, they are planted in mixed plantings. Cocoa thrives among avocados, bananas, mangoes, coconuts, and rubber trees. Whimsical trees, easily exposed to many diseases, need constant care and careful care. They are only harvested by hand.
Description of the chocolate tree
On average, the height of straight-stemmed evergreen trees is 6 meters. However, it costs nothing for some specimens to grow up to 9 or even 15 meters. The trunks of plants (up to 30 cm in girth with yellowish wood) are covered with brown bark and crowned with wide branched dense crowns.
Trees that can live in the shade of plantings flooded with rain have giant oblong-elliptical leaves. The size of thin, entire, alternate evergreen leaves, seated on short petioles, is comparable to the size of a newspaper page. They are about 40 cm long and about 15 cm wide.
Thanks to giant leaves, the chocolate tree catches the crumbs of light that barely oozes through the lush greenery of plants endowed with greater height. The growth of giant foliage is not characterized by gradualness (leaves do not bloom one after another). She has a wavydevelopment. Either the leaves of the word freeze for several weeks and even months and do not grow at all, then suddenly there is an extraordinary surge in their development - several leaves bloom at the same time.
Fruiting is observed all year round. The first flowering and the formation of fruits is observed at the 5-6th year of the plant's life. The fruiting period lasts for 30-80 years. The chocolate tree bears fruit twice a year. Gives abundant harvests after 12 years of life.
Clusters formed by small pinkish-white flowers break right through the bark covering the trunks and large branches. Pollinate inflorescences that exude a disgusting smell, midges-lice. Brown and yellow fruits, similar in shape to a small elongated ribbed melon, hang from the trunks. Their surface is cut with ten grooves.
Chocolate Tree Seeds
They need 4 months to mature. Because of such a long ripening of fruits, the trees are constantly humiliated with both flowers and fruits. In fruits 30 cm long, 5-20 cm in diameter and weighing 200-600 g, 30-50 cocoa beans are hidden. The beans are tightened with a dense leathery shell of yellow, red or orange tones. Each almond-shaped seed is 2-2.5 cm long and 1.5 cm wide.
Longitudinal rows of beans are surrounded by juicy sweet pulp, which is revered as a delicacy by squirrels and monkeys. They suck out the watery pulp, throwing away what is valuable to people - the beans used as raw materials for the production of cocoa and chocolate.
Collecting cocoa fruits
Because the chocolate treequite high, not only machetes are used to collect fruits, but also knives attached to long poles. The removed fruits are cut into 2-4 shares. The beans, manually extracted from the pulp, are laid out for drying on banana leaves, pallets or in closed boxes.
Drying cocoa seeds in the sun produces a bittersweet taste with astringent notes, which is less valuable. Therefore, preference is given to closed drying of beans. The fermentation period takes from 2 to 9 days. During the drying process, the size of the seeds decreases.
Seed processing
Cocoa beans of brown-violet shades have an oily taste and pleasant aroma. Seeds, sorted, peeled, roasted and freed from parchment shells, are crushed and sifted through a sieve to obtain high-quality cocoa powder.
Parchment shells are used as fertilizer, and the powder is accepted for further processing by any chocolate factory. The chocolate tree, or rather its raw materials obtained from seeds, is an excellent basis for many delicacies.
Bitter chocolate is obtained from the fried crumbs, ground into a thick stretchy mass, by cooling. Enriching the resulting mixture with sugar, vanilla, milk powder and other additives, various chocolates are obtained.
From the fried fruits subjected to pressing, cocoa butter is obtained. The crumb left after pressing is ground into cocoa powder. Thus, the chocolate tree gives humanity two valuable products. The confectionery factory uses both powder and oil to produceall kinds of chocolate treats. The oil is also widely used in the production of perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.
Benefits of cocoa
Cocoa is not just a tasty treat, it has healing properties. Its composition is based on proteins, fiber, gum, alkaloids, theobromine, fat, starch and coloring matter. Thanks to theobromine, which has a tonic effect, cocoa has been used in medicine. It successfully suppresses diseases of the throat and lungs.
Delicacy and pharmacological preparations from cocoa restore strength and soothe. They normalize cardiac activity. They are used in the prevention of myocardial infarction, stroke and cancer. Cocoa butter cures hemorrhoids.
