Cacao

Cacao, or Theobroma cacao, is a fruit-bearing tree that produces cacao beans. The seeds of cacao beans are used to make cocoa products such as chocolate, cocoa powder, and chocolate liquor. Cacao trees primarily grow in hot climates such as West Africa, South America, and parts of Asia. Usage of the cacao plant dates back to ancient times, and many early cultures considered cacao drinks and foods to be beneficial to a person's health. Sweetened cacao products emerged following the arrival of European explorers to the Americas. Candy makers began mass-producing chocolate treats by the nineteenth century. The cacao plant has become a popular and lucrative crop for the regions that grow it. Apart from its use in the making of chocolate products, the cacao plant is also the source of many personal care products.

Brief History

Debate surrounds the exact origin of the Theobroma cacao tree. Anthropologists have postulated that cacao may have existed three or four millennia ago during pre-Columbian times in Mesoamerica. Historians believe prehistoric cultures such as the Olmec would ferment, roast, and grind cacao beans for eating and drinking as early as 1500 BCE. Although no written records of these early civilizations exist, archaeologists discovered chemical remnants of the cacao bean on pots and other items uncovered in the ruins of ancient settlements in Mexico.

Records of cacao's usage as food and currency date back to sixteenth-century Mexico during the Aztec Empire. Aztec people considered cacao beans very valuable and used them to trade for food and other items. According to one sixteenth-century Aztec document, one bean could get a person a tamale, a Mexican dish made with peppers, meat, and cornmeal. One hundred cacao beans fetched a turkey hen.

The Aztecs and their Mayan neighbors believed the cacao bean held magical powers. Some believed cacao was divine in nature. The Latin translation of Theobroma cacao is "food of the gods." These early Latin American societies used the beans in sacred rituals such as birth and marriage ceremonies. During Aztec sacrifice rituals, victims often consumed a gourd of cacao to raise their spirits. Cacao was consumed in its raw bitter form for most of early history. People began to sweeten cacao after the arrival of European explorers. According to legend, Aztec king Montezuma offered a helping of a bitter cacao drink to the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés. The Spaniards did not enjoy the bitterness of the drink, so cane sugar or honey was added to sweeten the concoction. The Spaniards shipped cacao back to Spain and popularized the sweetened version of it throughout Europe.

Seventeenth-century Europeans believed cacao, called chocolate in Europe, possessed beneficial health properties. Chocolate consumption was limited to the wealthy during this period. Following the invention of steam-powered mass-production technologies, chocolate was soon available to the wider public. By the 1800s, cacao had found a new solid form first referred to as chocolate liquor. This liquor was later refined into a powder by a Dutch chemist in 1828 who discovered a way to remove most of the natural fat (cocoa butter) from chocolate liquor, pulverize the remains, and treat it with alkaline salts to remove any bitterness. The result was known as Dutch cocoa or cocoa powder. This process also led to the creation of the chocolate bar. In 1868, a company called Cadbury began mass-producing chocolate candy. More chocolate companies cropped up in the years to follow, as did a new kind of chocolate called milk chocolate.

Cacao's popularity persisted throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Chocolate bars were often included among soldiers' rations during wartime. The cacao industry also found other uses for the cacao plant. The cocoa butter used in the production of all types of chocolate became a popular personal care product, often used as a skin moisturizer. By the twenty-first century, cacao content in chocolate candies had sharply decreased as options such as sugar and additives made production cheaper. Cacao in its pure, bitter form became a popular health food item during this time as it contained many nutritionally beneficial components such as flavonoids, which reduce inflammation and release antioxidants into the body. Demand for high-quality chocolate—containing a minimum of 70 percent pure cocoa solids—had grown so high by the 2010s that experts feared a chocolate shortage by 2020.

Overview

The cacao tree is primarily grown in regions with high temperatures such as Africa, Central and South America, Asia, and Oceania. The tree grows fruits known as cacao beans, which hang from the trunk and branches. Cocoa beans grow in pods and are made up of a seed coat, kernel, and germ. Cacao trees need plenty of water and moist air to grow. Theobroma cacao contains the compounds theobromine and caffeine, and studies have shown that consuming cacao can positively affect a person's mood.

Theobroma cacao is usually classified into three main varieties, or cultivars. The Criollo cultivar, primarily found in the Americas, grows pods that are yellow or red in color when ripe. The pods are long, wrinkled, and bumpy. This type of cacao is considered high quality, but the variety is not as fruitful as others are. Forastero cacao trees grow short pods that are yellow when ripe and have a wrinkled yet smooth finish. The Forastero is regarded as lower in quality than the Criollo, but it produces more fruit. This variety is mainly found in Africa. Finally, the Trinitario is a hybrid of the Criollo and Forastero cultivars. The pods can be long or short and are usually red or yellow. Trinitario cacao trees yield fair to good quality fruits.

Most farmers grow cacao trees to sell the cacao beans produced. The cacao bean kernel is used to make chocolate and cocoa products. As cacao trees can only be grown in certain temperatures, the regions that grow them often profit from exporting cacao to other countries. Cacao trees are very important crops for countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon, whose economies are often dependent on its sales. West Africa is one of the world's top-producing growers of the best quality Theobroma cacao. A number of major chocolate companies, including Hershey's and Nestlé, import chocolate from regions such as Africa and South America. Modern consumers go through more than three million tons of cocoa beans annually.

Bibliography

Ernst, Michelle. "Benefits of Cocoa Butter on Scarring." LiveStrong, 16 Aug. 2013, www.livestrong.com/article/88801-benefits-cocoa-butter-scarring/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

Fiegl, Amanda. "A Brief History of Chocolate." Smithsonian, 1 Mar. 2008, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/a-brief-history-of-chocolate-21860917/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

Garthwaite, Josie. "What We Know about the Earliest History of Chocolate." Smithsonian, 12 Feb. 2015, www.smithsonianmag.com/history/archaeology-chocolate-180954243/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

"Growing Cocoa." Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, www.fao.org/docrep/006/ad220e/AD220E01.htm#ch1. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

"History of Cocoa." World Cocoa Foundation, www.worldcocoafoundation.org/about-cocoa/history-of-cocoa. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

Magee, Elaine. "Health by Chocolate." WebMD, www.webmd.com/diet/features/health-by-chocolate#1. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

Martínez-Pinilla, Eva, et al. "The Relevance of Theobromine for the Beneficial Effects of Cocoa Consumption." Frontiers in Pharmacology, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4335269/. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

Salter, Katy. "Save Our Chocolate: Expert Tips to Halt the Cocoa Shortage." Guardian, 18 Nov. 2014, www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2014/nov/18/save-our-chocolate-expert-tips-halt-cocoa-shortage. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

"Theobroma Cacao." Encyclopedia of Life, www.eol.org/pages/484592/overview. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.

"What Is the Origin of the Cocoa Tree?" International Cocoa Organization, www.icco.org/faq/51-cocoa-trees/114-what-is-the-origin-of-the-cocoa-tree.html. Accessed 8 Feb. 2017.