A tree with a ripe cocoa pod and chocolate bars
Chocolate has a special blend of flavors and a feel that make it a favorite among many individuals. The sweet cocoa product may have its rich, sweet flavor enhanced by adding a range of ingredients, including nuts, fruits, and spices.
To accommodate a range of tastes, it is available in dark, milk, and white chocolate varieties. However, even though it's consumed all around the world, many people are unaware of how chocolate is made or the crop it comes from.
On the street, a European journalist with a cocoa pod stops a few people and inquires about what he is holding. Some people said "pawpaw," and someone said "mango," which is surprising considering a cocoa pod and a mango are very different.
Dried cocoa beans are ready for manufacturing chocolate.
Ghana is the world's second-largest exporter of cocoa beans, after the Ivory Coast, which leads West Africa with an annual production of 1.6 million tons. Nigeria, Cameroon, Togo, Liberia, and Sierra Leone are among the other African nations that cultivate cocoa; collectively, they account for almost 70% of global cocoa production.
Additionally, Equatorial Guinea, Madagascar, Tanzania, Uganda, and São Tomé and Principe are significant cocoa producers in Africa. Thousands of tons of cocoa beans are shipped each year to the United States and European nations like Belgium and Switzerland, where they are processed into a variety of consumer goods like drinks, soaps, chocolate bars, and cosmetics.
Cocoa trees, which rarely reach more than 7.5 meters (25 feet), start to develop fruit between the ages of two and three. When the fruit is ready, it is harvested twice a year. The beans within a split cocoa pod are dried in the sun and embedded in a delicate, white, jelly-like tissue. The pulp turns into a liquid during fermentation and then drains away, leaving the beans behind.
The dried beans are used as raw materials to make chocolate, cocoa fertilizer, food crops, and vegetables. Other products made from cocoa beans include jam, marmalade, alcohol, soap, and cocoa or chocolate drinks.
Additionally, cocoa beans are used extensively to make cocoa butter, moisturizing lotions, and cosmetics. Following the discovery that cocoa products are a rich source of catechins, which are polyphenols of the flavanol group, there are numerous health advantages to consuming them.
They are believed to protect against heart disease and cancer, among other disorders. Rich in antioxidants, cocoa butter helps shield the skin from aging-causing free radicals. Specifically, African women claim that cocoa butter reduces stretch marks.
A chocolate manufacturing machine. Photo credit: Melechine.com
Studies show that chocolate's flavonoids may improve brain function and lower the risk of neurodegenerative disorders. Chocolate can also increase the production of endorphins and serotonin, which may improve mood.
Some people may experience allergic reactions or sensitivities to chocolate or its ingredients, and if consumed in a amounts, its high sugar content can contribute to putting on extra weight or tooth decay if proper dental hygiene is not maintained.