Introduction to the knowledge of cocoa beans

But it's the product of a cacao tree. Cacao is a tropical plant that grows only in hot climates. In this way, its cultivation is limited to land between 20 latitudes from the north and south of the equator. Assuming fertile soil conditions and careful farming, once survived, the cacao tree can grow in plenty of sunlight. Cocoa plantations are usually located in valleys or coastal plains and must have evenly distributed rainfall and fertile, well-drained land.

First batch of fruits

After pruning and careful cultivation, most kinds of cocoa trees begin to bear fruit in the fifth year. If given the best care, some tree species will have a good harvest even in the third and fourth years. The cacao tree is an evergreen tree. Its large, glossy leaves are red when young and green when they mature. At maturity, artificially planted cacao trees are 15 to 25 feet tall, but wild cacao trees can reach more than 60 feet in height. The expected lifespan of the cacao tree is still under speculation. It is generally believed that 25 years later, the economic role of a cacao tree may be considered to come to an end, and it is appropriate to replant a young cacao tree to replace it. Cacao trees bear fruit all year round, but the harvest is usually seasonal. Because the cacao tree is freely cross-pollinated, pods form a variety of species, including Latin American species, exotic species and Trenedad species.

Harvest cocoa beans

Picking mature cocoa pods is by no means an easy task. The cacao tree is fragile and its roots are so shallow that workers cannot risk climbing to pick pods on the high branches. The growers were equipped with long, hand-shaped steel knives for pickers who went to work in the fields. The steel knife is designed to reach and cut off the tallest pods without hurting the soft bark of the cacao tree. The machete that you carry with you is used to pick accessible pods growing on low branches.

What do you do after picking?

Collectors work with pickers to collect pods into baskets and transport them to the edge of the field. Where the pods are broken. If done properly, you can split the wooden shell of the pod with just one or two machetes. A trained breaker can split 500 pods an hour. It takes patience to complete the harvest. Usually 20 to 50 milky cocoa beans are dug up from a standard pod and the shell and intima of the pod are discarded. The dried cocoa beans in an ordinary pod weigh less than 58 grams. To be exact, it takes 400 cocoa beans to make a pound of chocolate. There is still a big difference between cocoa beans and the final product we are familiar with. The milky cocoa beans are exposed to the air and soon turn lilac or purple. At this time, they do not look like made chocolate, nor do they smell familiar chocolate aroma.

Shipment of crops

Cocoa beans or seeds taken from pods are packed in boxes or stacked. Wrapped in cocoa beans is a layer of pulp that begins to heat up and ferment. The fermentation lasts three to nine days, removing the bitterness of cocoa and producing ingredients with chocolate characteristics. Fermentation is a simple process by which sugars in cocoa beans are converted into acids, mainly lactic acid and acetic acid.

The fermentation process causes the temperature of the cocoa beans to rise to 125 degrees Fahrenheit, killing the bacteria and activating existing enzymes to form a mixture that produces the flavor of chocolate when baking cocoa beans. The end result is dark brown fully fermented cocoa beans, a color that indicates that the beans are now ready to enter the drying process.

Like all hydrated fruits, cocoa beans must be dried if they are to be preserved. In some countries, the drying process is simple: simply spread the cocoa beans on a plate or bamboo mat and bake them in the sun. The artificial method can only be applied when the wet weather interferes with this drying method. For example, cocoa beans may be brought indoors and dried under a hot pipe.

If there is good weather, the drying process usually takes several days. During this interval, farmers often turn over cocoa beans. They use this opportunity to select imported cocoa beans and pick out flat, broken or sprouted cocoa beans. In drying, cocoa beans lose almost all their moisture and more than half their weight.

When the cocoa beans are dried, they are ready to be shipped at 130 to 200 pounds each. They are rarely stored in a warehouse except in a shipping center waiting to be inspected by the buyer.