cocoa beans , also called cocoa beans , cocoa ( ), and cocoa ( ), is a fermented and fermented bean of Theobroma cacao , from which cocoa solids and, because the seed fat, cocoa butter can be extracted. Beans are the basis of chocolate, and Mesoamerican foods such as mol and tejate .
Video Cocoa bean
Etymology
The word "cocoa" comes from the Spanish word
The term cocoa also means
- a drink commonly called hot chocolate
- chocolate powder, which is a dried powder made by grinding cocoa beans and removing cocoa butter from cacao solids, dark and bitter
- mixture of cocoa powder and cocoa butter
Maps Cocoa bean
History
See also: Chocolate History
The cocoa tree comes from the amazonic valley. It was defused by Olmecs and Mocayas (Mexico and Central America). More than 4,000 years ago, it was consumed by pre-Columbian culture along the YucatÃÆ'¡n, including the Mayans, and as far as the Olmeca civilization was in spiritual ceremonies. It also grows in the foothills of the Andes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, in Colombia and Venezuela. Wild cocoa still grows there. Its reach may be greater in the past; evidence from the wild may have been obscured by tree planting in these areas long before the Spaniards arrived. A new chemical analysis of residues extracted from pottery extracted at archaeological sites in Puerto Escondido, in Honduras, shows that chocolate products were first consumed there between 1500 and 1400 BC. The evidence also suggests that, long before the taste of cocoa beans (or peanuts) became popular, the sweet porridge of the chocolate fruit, used in the manufacture of fermented beverages (5% alcohol), first attracted attention to the crops in America. Cocoa beans are the common currency throughout Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest.
The cocoa tree grows in a limited geographical zone, about 20 Â ° north and south of the Equator. Almost 70% of the world's harvest is currently grown in West Africa. The cacao plant was first named botanist by the Swedish natural scientist Carl Linnaeus in his original classification of the plant kingdom, where he called it myobroma (my "god food") cocoa .
Cocoa is an important commodity in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. A Spanish soldier who was part of the conquest of Mexico by HernÃÆ'¡n CortÃÆ'Â © s said that when Moctezuma II, the Aztec emperor, had dinner, he took no other drink than chocolate, served in a golden cup. Seasoned with vanilla or other spices, the chocolate is thrown into the scum dissolved in the mouth. No less than 60 servings each day are reported to have been consumed by Moctezuma II, and 2,000 more by the nobles in his palace.
Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards, and became a popular drink in the mid-17th century. The Spaniards also introduced cocoa trees to the West Indies and the Philippines. It was also introduced throughout Asia and to West Africa by Europeans. On the Gold Coast, modern Ghana, cocoa was introduced by a Ghanaian, Tetteh Quarshie.
Variety
The three main varieties of cacao are Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario. The first is the most widely used, comprising 80-90% of world chocolate production. Cocoa beans from Criollo varieties are more rare and considered delicious. Criollo plantations have lower yields than Forastero, and also tend to be less resistant to some of the diseases that attack cacao plants, so very few countries still produce them. One of the largest producers of Criollo beans is Venezuela (Chuao and Porcelana). Trinitario (from Trinidad) is a hybrid between the Criollo and Forastero varieties. It is considered to have a much higher quality than Forastero, has a higher yield, and is more resistant to illness than Criollo.
Production
The fruit of cocoa (fruit) has a coarse, rough skin of about 2-3 cm (0.79-1,18 inches) thick (this varies with origin and variety of pods) filled with sweet and mucous pulp (called baba de cacao). in South America) with a lemon-like flavor covering 30 to 50 large soft beans and pale lavender to a dark brownish purple.
During the harvest, the pod is opened, the seeds are stored, and the pods are discarded. Seeds are placed where they can ferment. Due to the heat buildup in the fermentation process, cocoa beans lose most of the purplish color and become mostly brown, with an inherent skin that includes the dried remains of the fruit pulp. This skin is released easily after grilling with winnowing. White seeds are found in some rare varieties, usually mixed with purple, and are considered to be of higher value.
Harvest
Cocoa trees grow in hot, rainy tropical regions within 20 ° latitude of the Equator. Cacao harvest is not limited to one period per year and harvest usually occurs for several months. In fact, in many countries, cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year. Pesticides are often used in trees to combat capsid bugs, and fungicides to fight black pod disease.
Uncooled cocoa has many colors, but most often it is green, red or purple, and when it is ripe, the color tends to yellow or orange, especially in wrinkles. Unlike most fruit trees, cocoa grows directly from the stems or branches of large trees rather than from branch edges, similar to jackfruit. This makes harvesting by hand easier because most of the pods will not rise in the higher branches. The pods in the trees do not mature together; harvesting needs to be done periodically throughout the year. Harvesting occurs between three and four times a week during the harvest season. Ripe and almost ripe fruits, judged by their color, are harvested from the stems and branches of cocoa trees with a curved knife on long poles. Care should be used when cutting pods to avoid damage to the stem joint with the tree, as this is where the flowers and pods of the future will appear. One person can harvest about 650 pods per day.
Processing harvest
The harvested pods are opened, usually with machetes, to expose the seeds. The pulp and cocoa beans are removed and the skin is removed. Porridge and seeds are then stacked in a pile, placed in a dustbin, or arranged on top of grates for several days. During this time, the seeds and porridge experience a "sweat", in which the thick porridge melts during fermentation. The fermented pulp drips, leaving behind the cocoa beans to collect. Sweating is important for the quality of beans, which initially has a strong bitter taste. If sweating is impaired, the resulting chocolate may be damaged; if underestimated, cocoa beans maintain a taste similar to raw potatoes and become susceptible to fungi. Some cocoa-producing countries distill spirits of alcohol using liquid porridge.
An ordinary pod contains 30 to 40 seeds and about 400 dry beans are required to make a pound (880 per kilogram) of chocolate. Cocoa pods weigh an average of 400 g (14 oz) and each produce 35 to 40 g (1.2 to 1.4 ounces) of dry beans; this result is 40-44% of the total weight in the pod. One person can separate beans from about 2,000 pods per day.
The wet peas are then transported to the facility so that they can be fermented and dried. Farmers remove seeds from pods, put them in boxes or stack them into piles, then cover them with mats or banana leaves for three to seven days. Finally, peanuts are trampled and shaken (often using bare legs) and sometimes, during this process, red clay is mixed with water sprinkled over peanuts to get a smoother color, polish, and mushroom protection during delivery to factory- factories in the United States, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other countries. Drying in the sun is better than artificial drying, because no foreign flavor like smoke or oil is introduced that might contaminate the taste.
The beans must be dry for delivery (usually by sea). Traditionally exported in jute bags, over the last decade, beans are increasingly shipped in "mega-bulk" packages of several thousand tons at a time on the ship, or in smaller quantities of about 25 tons in 20-ft containers. Large shipments significantly reduce handling costs; shipping in a bag, however, whether inside the hold of a vessel or in a container, is still common.
Throughout Mesoamerica where they are original, cocoa beans are used for various foods. The harvested and fermented beans can be to-order at tiendas de chocolate , or chocolate factory. In these factories, cocoa can be mixed with various ingredients such as cinnamon, chilli, almond, vanilla, and other spices to make chocolate. Cocoa powder is also an important ingredient in tejate and a number of savory foods, such as mol .
World production
Nearly 4,600,000 tons (4.500,000 tons long; 5.100,000 short tons) of cocoa is produced annually.
Historically global production is:
1974: 1,556,484 tons,
1984: 1.810.611 tons,
1994: 2,672,173 tons,
2004: 3.607.052 ton,
2013: 4,585,552 tons.
Production increased by 194.6% in 39 years, representing a compound annual growth rate of 2.81%.
Approximately 4,585 million tons of cocoa beans are produced in the 2013-2014 growth year, which runs from October to September. Of this number, African countries produce 3.014 million tons (65.75%), Asia and Oceania produce 0.849 million tons (18.52%), and America produces 0.721 million tons (15.73%). Two African countries, Ivory Coast and Ghana, produced nearly half of the world's cocoa, with 1.448 and 0.835 million tons respectively (31.6% and 18.22% respectively).
Slave child
The first accusation that child slavery was used in the production of chocolate appeared in 1998. By the end of 2000, a BBC documentary reported the use of enslaved children in chocolate production in West Africa. Other media were followed by reporting on the widespread child slavery and child trafficking in cocoa production.
According to a report by the International Labor Organization (ILO), in 2002, more than 109,000 children worked in brown plantations in Cote d'Ivoire, some of them in "worst forms of child labor". The ILO reported that 200,000 children were employed in the cocoa industry in Ivory Coast in 2005. The 2005 ILO report failed to fully characterize the problem, but estimated that up to 6% of the 200,000 children involved in chocolate production could be victims of human trafficking or slavery. In the 2008/09 and 2013/14 harvest seasons, Tulane University conducted research on child labor in the West African chocolate sector.
The results show that child labor is growing in several West African countries. In 2008/09, there were an estimated 819,921 children working in a cocoa plantation in Ivory Coast alone; in 2013/14 the number rose to 1,303.009. During the same period in Ghana, the estimated number of children employed in cocoa farms decreased from 997,357 to 957,398 children.
Attempting on update
The cocoa industry is accused of taking advantage of slavery and child trafficking. The Harkin-Engel Protocol is an attempt to put an end to these practices. It was signed and witnessed by the heads of eight major chocolate companies, US Senators Tom Harkin and Herb Kohl, US Representative Eliot Engel, Ivory Coast's ambassador, director of the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, and others. However, it has been criticized by several groups including the International Labor Rights Forum as a failed industrial initiative.
Cocoa Trade
Cocoa beans from Ghana are traditionally shipped and stored in burlap sacks, where the seeds are susceptible to pest attacks. Fumigation with methyl bromide will be removed globally by 2015. Additional cocoa protection techniques for shipping and storage include applications of pyrenoids as well as hermetic storage in enclosed pockets or containers with low oxygen concentrations. Secure long-term storage facilitates trading of cocoa products on commodity exchanges.
Cocoa beans, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder are traded on two world exchanges: ICE Futures US and NYSE Liffe Futures and Options. The London market is based on West African and New York chocolates on cocoa mainly from Southeast Asia. Cocoa is the smallest commodity market in the world.
The price of cocoa butter and cocoa in the future is determined by multiplying the price of the bean by the ratio. The combined butter and powder ratio tends to be about 3.5. If the combined ratio falls below 3.2 or more, production ceases to be economically viable and some manufacturers stop the extraction of butter and powder and trade exclusively in chocolate drinks.
Fair trade
Fair trade in cocoa is an important point in the cocoa industry. In 2016 it was reported that the Ferrero chocolate manufacturer would invest further in fair trade; the plan is to double the amount of cocoa coming from fair trade in the next 3 years. Ferrero wants to invest in 40,000 MT trade fair cocoa until 2020.
Fair trade cocoa trade groups established in Belize, Bolivia, Cameroon, Congo, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Ghana, Haiti, India, Cote d'Ivoire, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Sierra Leone, and SÃÆ' â € < Â £ o TomÃÆ'Â © and PrÃÆ'ncipe.
By 2014, less than 1% of the chocolate market is a fair trade. Cadbury, one of the largest chocolate companies in the world, has begun certifying the Dairy Milk bar as a fair trade; According to Cadbury, in 2010, a quarter of global sales of chocolate bars would be a fair trade. In 2007, the United States imported about 1.95 million pounds of cocoa which was traded fairly.
For the purpose of sustainable and responsible coffee production, it was established 1997 Dutch coffee company Ahold Coffee Company in collaboration with coffee farmers, UTZ Certified program. To achieve this they create utz-certificates, which include opposition to child labor and workers exploitation. In order to receive this certificate, the company/company involved should follow the code of conduct related to social and environmental factors. Furthermore, UTZ's program focuses on improving farming methods to increase profits and salaries of farmers and distributors on site.
UTZ Code of Conduct:
- Children younger than 15 years are not employed in any form.
- Children younger than 18 years of age do not do any heavy or dangerous work, or which may compromise their physical, mental, or moral health.
- In small-scale farms/families, children are allowed to help their families, but only if: the job does not interfere with the school; it is not physically demanding or dangerous; an adult relative always accompanies the child.
- No forced, bonded, or trafficked labor is permitted in any form or form.
In 2012 FLO-Cert launched the Cocoa Life Program to improve the cocoa supply chain by investing $ 400 million over the next ten years. About $ 100 million of that money will be spent on the Cocoa supply chain in Ivory Coast, $ 100 million will be spent on Ghana and the remaining $ 200 million will be split between Brazil, the Dominican Republic and India. Companies not only investigate in the purchase of cocoa certificates, but rather focus on direct investment in the cocoa supply chain. The Cocoa Life Program advocates higher income for farmers, authorizes, inspires young people and conserves the environment.
Consumption
People around the world enjoy chocolate in various forms, consuming more than 3 million tons of cocoa beans each year. Every consumer has the unique tastes and preferences of the final product. After cocoa beans are harvested, fermented, dried and transported, they are processed in several components. Grinding processors serve as key metrics for market analysis. Processing is the last phase in which the consumption of cocoa beans can be compared fairly with the supply. After this step, all the different components are sold in various industries to many manufacturers of different types of products.
Global market share for processing remains stable, even as grindings increase to meet demand. One of the largest processing countries by volume is the Netherlands, handling about 13% of global milling. Europe and Russia as a whole handle about 38% of the processing market. The year-on-year average demand growth has been more than 3% since 2008. While Europe and North America are relatively stable markets, an increase in household income in developing countries is the main reason for stable demand growth. As demand is expected to continue to grow, supply growth may slow as weather conditions change in the largest cocoa production area.
Chocolate production
To make 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of chocolate, about 300 to 600 seeds are processed, depending on the desired cocoa content. At the factory, coffee beans are roasted. Next, they are cracked and then deshelled by "winnower". The resulting seed pieces are called nibs. They are sometimes sold in small packages in specialty stores and markets for use in cooking, snack, and chocolate dishes. Because the seeds are directly from the cocoa tree, the nibanya contains a high amount of theobromine. Most nibs are ground, using various methods, into pastes, creamy cream, known as chocolate or cocoa paste. This "liquor" is then further processed into chocolate by mixing (more) butter and cocoa sugar (and sometimes vanilla and lecithin as emulsifier), and then refined, burned and forged. Alternatively, it can be separated into cocoa powder and cocoa butter using a hydraulic press or Broma process. This process produces about 50% cocoa butter and 50% cocoa powder. Standard cocoa powder has a fat content of about 10-12%. Cocoa butter is used in making chocolate bars, other confectionery, soaps, and cosmetics.
Treating with alkali produces Dutch process powder chocolate, which is less acidic, darker, and softer in flavor than what is generally available in most parts of the world. Ordinary chocolate (nonalkalization) is acidic, so when cocoa is treated with alkaline materials, generally potassium carbonate, pH increases. This process can be performed at various stages during manufacture, including during nib treatment, liquor treatment, or cake press treatment.
Another process that helps develop flavor is grilling, which can be done on whole beans before peeling or on the nib after stripping. Roasted time and temperature affect the outcome: "Low bake" produces more acid, aromatic flavor, while high roast gives a stronger flavor, a bitter taste that does not have a complex flavor.
Health benefits
In general, cocoa is considered a source of rich antioxidants such as procyanidins and flavonoids, which can provide antiaging properties. Cocoa also contains high levels of flavonoids, especially epicatechins, which may have beneficial effects on cardiovascular health. Cocoa is a stimulant and contains theobromine and caffeine compounds. Nuts contain between 0.1% and 0.7% caffeine, while dry coffee beans are about 1.2% caffeine.
The cocoa stimulant activity comes from less diuretic theobromine compounds than theophylline found in tea. The prolonged intake of prolonged flavanol cocoa has been linked to cardiovascular health benefits, although this refers to raw cocoa and to a lesser extent, dark chocolate, as flavonoids decline during cooking and alkalizing. Short-term benefits of LDL cholesterol from consumption of dark chocolate have been found. The addition of whole milk to milk chocolate reduces the overall content of cocoa per ounce while increasing saturated fat levels. Although one study has concluded that milk impairs the absorption of flavonoid polyphenols, such as epicatechin, the follow-up fails to find the effect.
Hollenberg and colleagues from Harvard Medical School studied the effects of cocoa and flavanols on Panamaese Kuna people, who are heavy consumers of cocoa. The researchers found that the Kuna people living on the islands had significantly lower rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer than those on the land that did not drink chocolate as on the islands. It is believed that increased blood flow after the consumption of rich chocolate flavanols can help to achieve health benefits in the liver and other organs. In particular, its benefits can extend to the brain and have important implications for learning and memory.
Cocoa-rich foods appear to reduce blood pressure according to a research analysis published earlier in the April 9, 2007 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.
A 15-year study of elderly men published in Archives of Internal Medicine in 2006 found a 50 percent decrease in cardiovascular death and a 47 percent decrease in all- cause i> death for men who regularly consume the most chocolate, compared with those who consume less cocoa from all sources.
Environmental impact
The relative poverty of many cocoa farmers means that the environmental consequences of deforestation are less important. For decades, cocoa farmers have penetrated virgin forests, mostly after logging trees by logging companies. This trend has declined as many governments and communities begin to protect their remaining forest zone. In general, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides by cocoa farmers is limited. When cocoa seed prices are high, farmers can invest in their crops, leading to higher yields which, in turn, tend to result in lower market prices and lower renewed investment periods.
Cocoa production is likely to be affected in various ways by the expected effects of global warming. Special attention has been raised about his future as a commercial crop in West Africa, the current global cocoa production center. If temperatures continue to rise, West Africa may become unfit to grow nuts.
Cocoa beans also have the potential to be used as a bedding material in livestock for cows. Using cocoa seed husk in cow beds has a beneficial effect on udder health (resulting in less bacterial growth) and ammonia levels (less ammonia levels in bed).
Agroforestry
Cocoa beans can be cultivated in shaded conditions, such as agroforestry. Agroforestry can reduce the pressure on existing forests for resources, such as firewood, and conserve biodiversity. Agroforest acts as a buffer for formally protecting forests and the protection of biodiversity islands in human-dominated open landscapes. The research of their shade coffee colleagues has shown that larger canopy cover in the plot is significantly related to the wealth and abundance of larger mammal species. The amount of tree species diversity is quite comparable between cacao grown plots and primary forests. Farmers can grow fruitful shade trees to supplement their income to help cope with volatile cocoa prices. Although cocoa has been adapted to grow under the canopy of dense rainforests, agroforestry does not significantly increase cocoa productivity.
See also
References
External links
- International Cocoa Organization (ICCO)
- International CoCoa Farmers Organization (ICCFO)
- The Roundtable for Sustainable Cocoa Economy (RSCE) - works with all stakeholders from the cocoa economy to an economically viable, environmentally friendly, socially acceptable cocoa economy
- Harvard Study on Cocoa Medical Aspects
- Cocoa Producers Alliance (COPAL)
- Upcocoa project in Cameroon - A multi-stakeholder initiative to improve the capacity of cocoa farmers and their organizations.
- Articles on cocoa trade on the website Agritrade .
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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