Cacao Tree
By Olivia
The cacao tree is a tree whose seeds produce…chocolate! Yay! But before the final product is marketed, bought, and eaten, there are a lot of steps to go through. But we’ll talk about that later.
Descriptive Description
Imagine a spindly evergreen (a tree that doesn’t lose its leaves in the winter), 15-24 feet (5-8 meters) tall that grows in the shade of the canopy – or the top layer of the trees – in the rainforest. Sound interesting? Maybe not! It might sound like your backyard, but the cacao tree really is special. Trust me.
Anyway, the leaves are shiny, waxy, green ovals and the flowers are in pale-pink clusters (groups) growing year-round. Only 5% of flowers get enough pollen to transform into the pods.
The pods (a long part of a type of plant) are brownish-yellow to purple and contain 20-40 cacao beans, or seeds, in a sweet pink pulp. Later, these beans will be turned into awesome chocolate!
So, if you’re out in the jungle and you see a pod, know that that pod might be the source of your chocolate bar!
Particular Plant
“¡Hola, como estás!” If the cacao tree could hear, it would hear that often in its native lands of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Of course, since the cacao tree lives in the understory, or bottom, of evergreen tropical rainforests, it’s unlikely a lot of people would be there.
The cacao tree likes shade and grows below 1,000 feet altitudes (height above sea level) in moist, nutrient-rich soils. It cannot live in very dry places; its habitat (or place it lives) gets 4 inches of rain per month, which is why it’s called a rainforest! So if you’re walking in the rainforest, and you see a cacao tree, say “Hola!” to it. It might be lonely.
Hungry Humans
Did you know that the cacao tree only has four predators? “Surprising!” you might think. But it’s true!
The cacao tree’s animal predators, or animals that eat a part or a whole of the cacao tree, are mainly monkeys, bats, and squirrels, who eat the sweet pink pulp (soft wet stuff that cushions the beans) inside the fruit. These animals spit it back out on their journey through the rainforest. But these are just the small predators.
The big one? Humans! Did you know that the average American consumes, or eats, 11 pounds of chocolate per year, and Americans all over the country eat 100 pounds of chocolate per second? In 2001, America consumed a combined total of 3 billion (that’s 3,000,000,000) pounds of chocolate. That’s a lot of chocolate!
So stop eating so much chocolate, and the cacao tree will thank you. But, I guess I’m being hypocritical, because I eat about 25 pounds of chocolate compared to the average American!
From Cacao to Chocolate
This is the section you’ve been waiting for…I am going to tell you how Hershey’s, Mars (company that owns Snickers, M&Ms, Kit Kat, Milky Way, etc.), and other leading brands make their own chocolate!
First, the cacao fruits are opened and the seeds are transferred to wooden crates with banana leaves in between and on top to permit optimal fermentation. Fermentation is when you leave something out in the sun for an extended period of time. Fermentation takes 2-7 days. Have you ever tasted or got a mouthful of the inside skin of an under ripe banana, or chewed on grape skins? If you felt a drying sensation in your mouth, you experienced astringency. If you do not ferment the seeds, they will have a high astringency level. They also won’t taste like chocolate after the process!
When the fermentation is done, the seeds (or beans) are sundried. In small plantations, the fermented beans are spread by hand, and later turned over by hand or foot. On larger plantations electronic dryers are used. Drying the beans takes 1-2 weeks. In that time the color of the beans change from reddish to brown. Finally the beans are roasted. The temperature and time of the roasting depends. Finally, the shells are removed and the beans are ready for chocolate! And, we’re still not done yet!
After roasting and removing the shells, they make cocoa liquor. Cocoa liquor is not really liquor, it’s just liquid cocoa. Then pressure is applied to some of the slightly heated cocoa liquor to get cocoa butter (fat). Then the rest of the cocoa liquor is mixed with sugar. More cocoa butter is added, along with flavoring, such as vanilla. Then they grind it. After a while of grinding, the mixture grows smooth.
The next step is conching: mixing, agitating, and aerating the heated liquid chocolate. During this long process (about 24 hours), off-flavored, bitter substances evaporate from the chocolate. We’re almost done! But before molding the chocolate into bars, it must be tempered. Tempering is when you mix the chocolate at a fixed temperature until the right form of chocolate crystals are formed. Then the chocolate is molded and cooled, and you have beautiful, tasty, marvelous chocolate!
So, if you have ever tried making chocolate, or will try, I suggest you don’t, because it is a long and hard process!
By Olivia
The cacao tree is a tree whose seeds produce…chocolate! Yay! But before the final product is marketed, bought, and eaten, there are a lot of steps to go through. But we’ll talk about that later.
Descriptive Description
Imagine a spindly evergreen (a tree that doesn’t lose its leaves in the winter), 15-24 feet (5-8 meters) tall that grows in the shade of the canopy – or the top layer of the trees – in the rainforest. Sound interesting? Maybe not! It might sound like your backyard, but the cacao tree really is special. Trust me.
Anyway, the leaves are shiny, waxy, green ovals and the flowers are in pale-pink clusters (groups) growing year-round. Only 5% of flowers get enough pollen to transform into the pods.
The pods (a long part of a type of plant) are brownish-yellow to purple and contain 20-40 cacao beans, or seeds, in a sweet pink pulp. Later, these beans will be turned into awesome chocolate!
So, if you’re out in the jungle and you see a pod, know that that pod might be the source of your chocolate bar!
Particular Plant
“¡Hola, como estás!” If the cacao tree could hear, it would hear that often in its native lands of Mexico, Central America, and northern South America. Of course, since the cacao tree lives in the understory, or bottom, of evergreen tropical rainforests, it’s unlikely a lot of people would be there.
The cacao tree likes shade and grows below 1,000 feet altitudes (height above sea level) in moist, nutrient-rich soils. It cannot live in very dry places; its habitat (or place it lives) gets 4 inches of rain per month, which is why it’s called a rainforest! So if you’re walking in the rainforest, and you see a cacao tree, say “Hola!” to it. It might be lonely.
Hungry Humans
Did you know that the cacao tree only has four predators? “Surprising!” you might think. But it’s true!
The cacao tree’s animal predators, or animals that eat a part or a whole of the cacao tree, are mainly monkeys, bats, and squirrels, who eat the sweet pink pulp (soft wet stuff that cushions the beans) inside the fruit. These animals spit it back out on their journey through the rainforest. But these are just the small predators.
The big one? Humans! Did you know that the average American consumes, or eats, 11 pounds of chocolate per year, and Americans all over the country eat 100 pounds of chocolate per second? In 2001, America consumed a combined total of 3 billion (that’s 3,000,000,000) pounds of chocolate. That’s a lot of chocolate!
So stop eating so much chocolate, and the cacao tree will thank you. But, I guess I’m being hypocritical, because I eat about 25 pounds of chocolate compared to the average American!
From Cacao to Chocolate
This is the section you’ve been waiting for…I am going to tell you how Hershey’s, Mars (company that owns Snickers, M&Ms, Kit Kat, Milky Way, etc.), and other leading brands make their own chocolate!
First, the cacao fruits are opened and the seeds are transferred to wooden crates with banana leaves in between and on top to permit optimal fermentation. Fermentation is when you leave something out in the sun for an extended period of time. Fermentation takes 2-7 days. Have you ever tasted or got a mouthful of the inside skin of an under ripe banana, or chewed on grape skins? If you felt a drying sensation in your mouth, you experienced astringency. If you do not ferment the seeds, they will have a high astringency level. They also won’t taste like chocolate after the process!
When the fermentation is done, the seeds (or beans) are sundried. In small plantations, the fermented beans are spread by hand, and later turned over by hand or foot. On larger plantations electronic dryers are used. Drying the beans takes 1-2 weeks. In that time the color of the beans change from reddish to brown. Finally the beans are roasted. The temperature and time of the roasting depends. Finally, the shells are removed and the beans are ready for chocolate! And, we’re still not done yet!
After roasting and removing the shells, they make cocoa liquor. Cocoa liquor is not really liquor, it’s just liquid cocoa. Then pressure is applied to some of the slightly heated cocoa liquor to get cocoa butter (fat). Then the rest of the cocoa liquor is mixed with sugar. More cocoa butter is added, along with flavoring, such as vanilla. Then they grind it. After a while of grinding, the mixture grows smooth.
The next step is conching: mixing, agitating, and aerating the heated liquid chocolate. During this long process (about 24 hours), off-flavored, bitter substances evaporate from the chocolate. We’re almost done! But before molding the chocolate into bars, it must be tempered. Tempering is when you mix the chocolate at a fixed temperature until the right form of chocolate crystals are formed. Then the chocolate is molded and cooled, and you have beautiful, tasty, marvelous chocolate!
So, if you have ever tried making chocolate, or will try, I suggest you don’t, because it is a long and hard process!