Cocoa

Theobroma cacao L. =

Cocoa theobroma = C.minor = C.sativa

Fam Sterculiaceae

Description

Cocoa is a tall tree in nature 8-10 m, less (4-5 m) if cultivated. Large, alternate leaves and small white or pink flowers with 5 petals, born directly on the trunk or on the large branches ( caulifioria ). The " cabosse " fruit is an oval, indehiscent capsule, even up to 25 cm long with thick leathery skin, yellow or red when ripe; internally it contains a white-yellowish pulp where 20-80 flattened seeds of the size of a stone are covered with a hard and dry red-purple layer. The cocoa almond, part used, is formed almost entirely by two large cotyledons, and is almost devoid of albumen. There are many varieties.

Areal and culture

Cocoa is native to Central America where it was already cultivated in the pre-Columbian era and is currently cultivated in various tropical regions (Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador) also in Central Africa. It is a delicate crop and only possible in tropical regions: the plants are planted 5 m apart and generally interspersed with leguminous plants, such as Inga, or Albizzia, called cocoa mothers, which serve to provide them with some shade and to protect them from the wind. The cocoa plant blooms in the third year and begins to produce from the fifth-sixth.

On average, a cocoa tree produces 30-50 pods, giving a maximum of 1 kg of dry seeds. To make the seeds ready for consumption, they are subjected to fermentation for 8-10 days, followed by drying and pressing, during which the fat is separated from the seeds.

The fat, after refining, will be the cocoa butter.

To obtain chocolate instead, the process continues with roasting at 120-140 ° C and grinding : thus obtaining cocoa powder .

uses

The cocoa butter has an ivory white color with a pleasant cocoa smell; it consists of glycerides of stearic, palmitic and oleic acid, melting at temperatures just below body temperature (32-35 °). For this reason it is used in the preparation of suppositories ( pharmacy ), but it is also widely used in the food industry. Its action is well known as an emollient and a protective agent for which it is used in cosmetics for the manufacture of soaps, creams, lipsticks and lip cream. In industry it is used to extract essences from flowers with the enfleurage system "

However, the use of the plant is above all the alimentary one linked to the preparation of chocolate . This name derives even from the Aztecs who prepared with roasted and ground seeds a hot and frothy drink or they mixed the cocoa powder with corn or manioc flour, honey and vanilla and other aromas, making it a paste called "chocolatl". The name Theobroma cacao, given by Linnaeus, indicates the appreciation for these products, in fact it means: food of the gods.