Chocolate 101

From Tree to Bar

The Origin of Cacao

Named in 1753 by the Swedish scientist, Carl von Linnaeus, cacao (pronounced ku’keyow) is the seed (or bean) of the species Theobroma cacao — which translated means “cacao, the food of the gods.” Von Linnaeus certainly got it right as far as I am concerned!

Cacao is one of more than twenty two species from the grouping Theobroma that grew millions of years ago in South America. Modern DNA research indicates that Theobroma cacao probably originated both in the Amazon River Basin and in the foothills of the Andes in what is now known as Peru.

From there it spread north into Central America and Mexico. Theories abound about exactly how cacao spread, but all assume that humans, as the first early chocolate aficionados, were chiefly responsible.

Ideally the fickle and demanding cacao tree produces best when it is sheltered from the wind and receives 20 - 30% shade. Young cocoa trees are grown under more shade, such as in among banana plants, to get them established. Too much shade on a mature tree diminishes the production of pods. With its taproot (if grown from seed) and a mat-like network of surface-feeding roots, the rich compost on the forest floor nourishes the tree and propagates the tiny midge flies that pollinate its flowers.

The native peoples loved the flavor and cultivated natural plantations, mainly by clearing a space in the forest and planting a seed. Trade in cacao was the currency of the times. Try asking for the last bite of your friend’s chocolate bar and you’ll see how much it is coveted even today!

Early plantation managers adopted a different strategy. They planted trees from seed about sixteen feet apart, leaving room for a secondary crop of shade trees. Banana plants were used as early shade for the baby trees; permanent shade trees were usually legumes so that they fixed nitrogen and enriched the soil. By replicating a more natural forest setting of dappled shade they could increase the production per tree and have the added benefit of another food crop at the same time.

The latest good news is that research suggests that cocoa trees can grow in drier climates if their roots are kept cool with good irrigation. For example, in their orchard on Oahu, Hawaii, the Dole Company found that with proper shade in the morning and afternoon, their cacao trees can handle the hot afternoon sun. Irrigation and proper drainage make all the difference. (See www.hawaiicacao.com for more information on cacao grown in Hawaii.) These new findings could open up other regions to cacao agriculture and yes, provide a lot more chocolate for us!

Cacao trees are not what you would consider attractive or stately. Although their leaves are bright and shiny, the bark and branches are thin with dusty-colored bark. Cacao trees can grow to forty feet tall in the wild but cultivated trees are pruned to a shorter 10-15 feet. The flowers and fruit (called pods) don’t growat the end of the branches but grow all over the trunk and leading limbs of the tree. This gives the trees a comical look because the pods jut out in all directions in the middle of the tree.

The tree’s tiny delicate pink or white flowers bloom and produce fruit all year round in the wild so the harvest is relatively consistent. In Africa they have domesticated the harvest into two seasons which correspond to local rainfall patterns.

Cacao trees are demanding to cultivate. They need very special conditions in order to reach peak production and the most flavorful beans grow on trees that don’t produce a lot of fruit. The pods must be harvested from the tree by hand to protect the bloom node and bark from cuts that can open the tree to disease.

The cacao pods, which can be green, yellow, orange, red or purple depending on the genotype, hold their precious cacao beans suspended in an acidic white pulp. Each pod contains 20-40 slick beans about the size of an almond. The raw beans can be eaten. I’ve tried them and they taste very much like a lime-flavored soft nutmeat, with no chocolate flavor or smell.

In some species, it can take the whole year’s yield from one tree to make one pound of chocolate. The International Cocoa Organization reported that 2.5 million farmers produce almost ninety percent of the world’s cocoa on small, five-to-ten acre holdings. Cacao agriculture is a family business where all members participate in tending the trees and harvesting, drying and fermenting the cacao beans.

In the last ten years, chocolate devotees have become aware of the differences in chocolate and more interested in where the chocolate’s cacao bean originates, both in varietal chocolates and in blends. This is part of a bigger trend that sees many people asking the same questions about cheeses, wines and produce.

While chocoholics don’t demand it, they appreciate it if the cacao has been bought using fair trade practices where family farms receive a better price for their cacao. More manufacturers are working directly with groups of small farmers, which in turn can mean better prices and working conditions for family farms.

With more people eating organic products, a wider range of organic chocolate is now appearing on store shelves. This is still a very small percentage of the chocolate available and you do limit your flavor experience by only eating organic. It is good to keep in mind that while many small farms grow cacao without the help of pesticides because they can’t afford them, often their crops cannot be certified organic because the certification process itself is too expensive.

Researchers surmise that the early native peoples treated the cacao bean as they did other indigenous plants like pumpkin and squash — by removing the seeds, pulling off the gelatinous pulp and letting them dry in the sun.

Someone probably knocked off work early one day, leaving their pile of beans and pulp under cover to protect them from insects, when they later returned, they discovered that the sugars in the mushy pulp surrounding the beans had fermented, turned to liquid and dissipated, leaving the beans free of pulp and tasting better than they did under the old cleaning-and-drying method.

So fermentation was added to the process before the beans were left to dry in the sun. There was also an exciting benefit to the fermentation process — the resulting liquid that ran off the beans was refreshing and contained a high percentage of alcohol. This by-product of the fermentation process probably created many a happy farmer as they laid their beans out to dry.

Turning Cacao into Chocolate

Before the Industrial Revolution, chocolate manufacturing mostly took place in small mills or shops. Chocolatiers and small grinders produced chocolate themselves and often had a narrow specialty. But once the age of industry took hold, chocolate production moved to large processing plants and the smaller shops stopped making their own chocolate.

It became easier to buy in bulk from a few large manufacturers, whose modern equipment allowed them to make chocolate much more cheaply. These manufacturers offered larger, more diverse product lines to satisfy many different requests from their customers for specific flavors or price ranges.

Even though the chocolate giants are bigger than ever today there has also been a trend back to smaller operations, made more profitable with the advent of smaller but very efficient equipment or, in some cases, the resurrection of vintage equipment.

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker, Jacques Torres Chocolate Haven, DeVries Chocolate and Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory are excellent examples of smaller chocolate manufacturing operations. (We profile these and other chocolate manufacturers in the left sidebar.)

Click here for an overview of chocolate manufacturing