Cocoa and chocolate Research Papers (original) (raw)

A través de estas líneas quisiera compartir algunos aspectos sobre el chocolate que lo hacen único y un gran provocador de emociones. Me gustaría además reseñar datos de su historia, para evocar algo de su connotación mágica y mítica .

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- Nutrition, Gastronomy, Coffee, Local food

The medicinal use of cacao, or chocolate, both as a primary remedy and as a vehicle to deliver other medicines, originated in the New World and diffused to Europe in the mid 1500s. These practices originated among the Olmec, Maya and Mexica (Aztec). The word cacao is derived from Olmec and the subsequent Mayan languages (kakaw); the chocolate-related term cacahuatl is Nahuatl (Aztec language), derived from Olmec/Mayan etymology. Early colonial era documents included instructions for the medicinal use of cacao. The Badianus Codex (1552) noted the use of cacao flowers to treat fatigue, whereas the Florentine Codex (1590) offered a prescription of cacao beans, maize and the herb tlacoxochitl (Calliandra anomala) to alleviate fever and panting of breath and to treat the faint of heart. Subsequent 16th to early 20th century manuscripts produced in Europe and New Spain revealed Ͼ100 medicinal uses for cacao/chocolate. Three consistent roles can be identified: 1) to treat emaciated patients to gain weight; 2) to stimulate nervous systems of apathetic, exhausted or feeble patients; and 3) to improve digestion and elimination where cacao/chocolate countered the effects of stagnant or weak stomachs, stimulated kidneys and improved bowel function. Additional medical complaints treated with chocolate/cacao have included anemia, poor appetite, mental fatigue, poor breast milk production, consumption/tuberculosis, fever, gout, kidney stones, reduced longevity and poor sexual appetite/low virility. Chocolate paste was a medium used to administer drugs and to counter the taste of bitter pharmacological additives. In addition to cacao beans, preparations of cacao bark, oil (cacao butter), leaves and flowers have been used to treat burns, bowel dysfunction, cuts and skin irritations.

- by Sylvia Escarcega
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- Anthropology, Cocoa and chocolate

This Book sets out the procedure for the production and processing of cocoa as well as a recommended technical schedule for the production of cocoa plants. It stresses the importance of phytosanitary protection and post-harvest... more

1. The nutritional value of chocolate bars should be based on the nutritional value of the low energy dense late Paleolithic human diet to help reduce mental ill health, obesity, and other postprandial insults.
2. Current chocolate bars have a high energy density (>2 kcal/g).
3. Cocoa can be sweetened by the addition of calorie-free Purefruit™ (Tate & Lyle) monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii) extract. PUREFRUIT™ is approximately 200 times sweeter than sugar and has exceptional stability.
4. The energetic cost of the assimilation of chocolate can be increased by increasing its protein and fibre content.
5. Self-assembled, water-filled, edible nanotubes that self-organise into a more complex structure, possibly a 3D network of nanocellulose, could be incorporated into chocolate bars to lower their energy density to <1.6 kcal/g.
6. Durethan® KU 2-2601 packaging film enables the water content of chocolate bars to be increased without reducing product shelf life.
7. Aquatic biotechnology can provide all the nutrients needed to make chocolate really nutritious.

- by Anthony Robson
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- Nutrition, Diet, Food and Nutrition, Food Science and Technology

Global biodiversity conservation significantly depends on bringing conservation measures to the agricultural production systems that dominate the earth’s surface. One of the leading candidates for wildlife-friendly farming in the megadiverse lowland tropics is shade-grown cocoa. However, tropical farmers increasingly believe that shade reduces yield and consequently, are removing most shade trees from their farms. Conservation goals therefore conflict with production imperatives. Nevertheless, we tested the trade-off between production and biodiversity conservation in the critical conservation area of the Ecuadorean Choc´o and found that both farmers and biodiversity would benefit from an increase in shade. This rare partial win-win situation in wildlifefriendly
farming permits the creation of a sustainable, economically sensitive certification and geographic indication for biodiversity-friendly chocolate. We suggest that similar trade-off studies be carried out in other agroforestry regions of conservation importance, not least to establish the probable
sustainability of conservation initiatives in production-centered landscapes.

- by Rebeca Justicia and +2
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- Sustainable agriculture, Sustainable Development, Ecuador, Biodiversity Conservation
- by Nadia Radwan and +1
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- Orientalism in art, Cocoa and chocolate, Neuchâtel, Minarets

This contribution argues that chocolate is a racial signifier, and as such has been used in self-reference by African Americans; it can relate to mixed race identities as well as constructions of Blackness. In the early twentieth century, chocolate founds its way in scholarly and popular treatments of colorism in an attempt to describe various skin shades. Writers of the Harlem renaissance used it in order to envision an aesthetically appealing and affirmative Blackness. In the postwar period, chocolate regained significance in the expression ‘Chocolate City’, originally a reference to Washington, D.C. with its majority of African American residents. With the help of Ernesto Laclaus theory of collective identity formation applied to various examples, the article discusses the usage of the food metaphor chocolate as a racial category in texts about and by African Americans.

- by Silke Hackenesch
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- American History, Critical Race Theory, Cocoa and chocolate, Empty Signifiers

Reviewed in Latin American Indian Literatures Journal 13/1 (1997): 86-89.

- by David Fleming
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- México prehispánico, América Prehispánica, Cocoa and chocolate, Peruvian Food

Why is chocolate such a popular metaphor in the construction of blackness in various spheres of (popular) culture? Why are metaphors for edibility that also work as sexual allusions used in reference to blackness? This book looks at chocolate and blackness from different angles: it provides a material analysis that takes the colonial production process of cocoa into account; it explores the semantics of chocolate and its visual representations in European and US advertisements and offers a discursive analysis of the connections between cocoa and race in various (African) American spheres of cultural production.

- by Silke Hackenesch
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- History of Slavery, Racial Identity, African American Studies, Chocolate

This paper examines the changing role of chocolate in European society, especially in light of the food movement turn to slow, small batch, craft chocolate, as a way to critically analyze relationships of labor and race, gender, and class inequality. The changing culture of chocolate consumption over centuries, from its pre-Columbian origins to the ways European colonists culturally and economically adopted chocolate shows a trajectory of increasing permeation of European foods (more foods contain chocolate) and regionalization of tastes in chocolate recipes, most recently by small batch chocolate makers whose work crafts local identity through branding of a tropical product. Europe is the world's biggest importer and processor of cacao as well as the largest per capita consumer of chocolate. Industrial chocolate is higher in sugar and less complex in taste compared to the variety of local chocolate makers, so chocolate occupies an uneasy place in European diets, especially in light of growing rates of obesity and recent " junk food taxes " that target sugary foods. The historical context and analysis of labor in cacao farming and chocolate production shows a critical reliance on coerced labor. While the legacy of the past has been the decoupling of horrific coerced labor in cacao production from the consciousness of everyday chocolate consumers, the growing vitality of small batch chocolate makers refocuses attention on the country of origin-the conditions of production-as well as local, European tastes-the conditions of consumption. The authors employ interdisciplinary methodologies of close readings of primary sources that include historical recipes, critical analysis of representation in historic and contemporary images and media, and descriptive economic data of export and consumption levels. This systematic study of taste in chocolate and its social, economic, political, and cultural implications is carried out in an analytical framework of the historical contingency of the social construction of realms of value, and that such construction takes place within global and local political economic forces that tend to propagate inequality as a solution to greater economic efficiency. Examining food access and food justice in the light of ways people produce and consume chocolate can challenge assumptions about social inequalities, race, health, and identity and offer insights into long-term sustainability. The critical analysis of these social factors suggests directions for future education, investment, and action by the fine and craft chocolate industry in Europe that can promote mutual benefits for producers and consumers.

- by Kathryn Sampeck and +1
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- Foodways (Anthropology), History of Slavery, Colonialism, Colonial Latin American History

The rheological response of a chocolate coating is determined
by the composition of the sample as well as the various
phases involved during
processing. The thermo
mechanical properties of flow and
linear viscoelasticity of chocolate
coating are studied in this work using
fat substitute gums (xanthan, GX) an
d proposing an alternative conching
process using a Rotor
Estator (RE) type impeller. We so
ught to obtain coating improved with mechanical properties to
flow based on the particle size distribu
tion (PSD), thermal charac
teristics via differential
scanning calorimetry (DSC)
and proximal analysis. The results indicate that xanthan gum
is a good substitute for cocoa
butter as a function of the
mechanical characteristics of
flow as, aside from being more
stable, it also had particle
sizes with less polydispersity
and therefore, greater homogeneity; fusion
points were also generated at around
20 ° C assuming crystal type I (b’2)
and II (a). More over, xanthan gum exhibited crossover poin
ts (structural changes) betw
een the viscoelastic modulus
G 'and G''. The coating which generated the best rheologi
cal properties when compared to a commercial brand was
the one prepared with xanthan gum under maturing conditions of 36 h and 35 ° C, showing crossover points around
76 Pa and a 0.505 particle dispersion, and having an average
particle diameter of 364 nm, and a fusion point at 20.04

- by Fausto Calderas and +1
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- Food Rheology, Cocoa and chocolate

Diario di Bordo cioccolatoso

O Sistema Agroflorestal Cabruca (SAC) é um caso sui generis de lavoura compatível com o Pagamento por Serviços Ambientais (PSA). O presente trabalho analisa circunstâncias que envolvem a aplicação do PSA no SAC. O objetivo geral é esquematizar uma metodologia de valoração do PSA para o SAC, a fim de difundir a aplicação desses instrumentos na região produtora de cacau da Bahia. Especificamente objetiva-se identificar os serviços ambientais prestados pelo SAC que se adequam à lei de PSA do Estado da Bahia, qual seja, a Lei Estadual nº 13.223/2015; quantificar o custo de oportunidade de adoção da lavoura cacaueira pelo SAC para servir de base à metodologia de valoração do PSA; e identificar uma metodologia de valoração do PSA relativo ao SAC. A questão ambiental contemporânea é contextualizada a partir do histórico da região produtora de cacau na Bahia juntamente com a atual conjuntura. Detalha o PSA, verificando as bases teóricas e o marco legal aplicado à realidade baiana, inserindo-o no contexto de produção do cacau no SAC. Para tanto, é desenvolvida uma metodologia de valoração econômica dos serviços ambientais prestados pelo SAC que atenda à legislação pertinente e seja razoável, sob o ponto de vista econômico. A metodologia delineada refere-se ao custo de oportunidade entre a lavoura de cacau cultivada na forma do SAC e a lavoura de cacau cultivada a pleno sol. Considera como custo de oportunidade a perda de produção provocada pelo sombreamento no SAC. De acordo com a realidade aqui analisada, os serviços ambientais prestados pelo SAC se enquadram na Lei Estadual nº 13.223/2015 e podem fazer com que o SAC figure como área beneficiada por programa de PSA. Assim, foram elaborados cenários buscando-se estimar os custos e benefícios (receitas) para o agricultor que mantém serviços ambientais, com vistas a informar eventual programa de PSA. Foram estimados o valor dos serviços prestados, a transferência de renda máxima e os impactos no orçamento do Estado da Bahia, no orçamento da Secretaria de Meio Ambiente do Estado da Bahia, no PIB baiano e no PIB dos municípios produtores de cacau. Os diferentes cenários e simulações foram estruturados de forma que se possa ter uma configuração mais próxima da realidade estudada. Conclui que os valores estimados para a política de PSA são razoáveis, inclusive quanto ao preço do serviço. Os valores máximos indicaram que eventual política de PSA deve considerar a captação de recursos privados; sem olvidar a participação do orçamento público, possibilitando um fundo misto. A transferência de renda apontada melhora a competitividade do produtor, remunerando-o pelo serviço ambiental prestado, e ainda reintroduz a externalidade negativa na contabilidade da atividade degradadora. O SAC responde positivamente aos anseios locais e globais em matéria ambiental, contribui para a conservação do bioma Mata Atlântica e assume a característica de um sistema de produção sustentável.

Cocoa Samoa Ltd (‘CSL’) is a Samoan registered company that utilizes climate-smart and sustainable practices to rescue the Samoan cocoa industry, exploit the looming shortage of cocoa globally, and produce cocoa and chocolate products for Pacific Rim markets. CSL has formed a consortium of cocoa industry stakeholders including: cocoa growers; cocoa bean roasters; end-users (customers); chocolate makers; branding, marketing and sales forces; bio-energy and civil engineering; project management staff; sustainable landscape managers; as well as strategic planners. CSL uses ‘sustainable entrepreneurship’1 to recapture Samoan national food security in a renowned industry trying to come back from natural and economic disasters. Our initiative will significantly increase export earnings for Samoa and create downstream socio-economic returns, including an increase in Samoan GST revenues. Our aim is to create a new brand of Samoan cocoa and chocolate brand for markets in Australia-New Zealand and the Pacific Coast of the United States of America (USA), and eventually in Northern Germany.

- by Howard H Frederick
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- Export-Import, Cocoa and chocolate, Samoan Culture

The Sustainable Practices in Agriculture for Critical Environments (SPACE) project applied a decentralized, participatory approach of community-level learning on the edge of the forest as a practical base for developing the common understanding, agreement, and action necessary to conserve some of the largest intact lowland tropical rain forest remnants in West Africa, which are home to numerous primate species, including the most endangered gorilla subspecies on Earth.
The project took a first step toward ensuring protection of a globally important natural heritage through strengthening local governance and developing sound economic incentives for conservation. The SPACE project developed and applied a decentralized, participatory approach of community-level learning and action that linked governance, economic development, and conservation to help stakeholders strengthen governance and market relationships, and institutional and individual capacities and practices. `
While the accomplishments and numbers demonstrate the results of changes in attitudes, skills, and relationships, the duration of the project was too short to ensure that the nascent habits and partnerships will continue to grow and spread. Developing the conditions that enable truly sustainable management will require considerably more time and will benefit from more consistent donor and government investment.
In Nigeria (as elsewhere), holding to principles of participation, transparency, and equitable access to resources often threatens some powerful interests. By enhancing trust and commitment, the SPACE projected helped diverse stakeholders strengthen relationships and limit instability during periods of turbulence. The project provided lessons relevant to key issues facing all of Nigeria: peaceful governance, learning amidst diversity and change, and sustainable economic growth—while fully addressing its conservation objectives.

A computational model is developed to predict the temperature in chocolate as a function of space and time during a new tempering process where pellets of seed crystals of form V are added to the melted chocolate. The model, a refined version of a previous one (Debaste et al., J Food Eng. 2008, 88, 568–575) including a new expression for the heat sink, is based on the energy equation, simplified by the use of an effective thermal conductivity. A shrinking core model is used to express the heat sink term associated with the melting of pellets. The width of the limit layer around the pellets is the fitting parameter. The model is validated on experimental temperature profiles in bowls and compared to a previous kinetic model. The quality of tempering is then assessed by differential scanning calorimetry. Combining this information with the model, the quality of tempering based on the initial experimental conditions is predicted.

- by Frédéric Debaste
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- Polymorphism, Heat Transfer, Differential scanning calorimetry, Chocolate

The material plays a fundamental and active role in the social lives of people, from objects like containers or buildings to food and other consumables. In this paper, evidence from absorbed residues are used to explore the contents of an Ulúa-style marble vase found in a royal courtyard at the ancient Maya site of Pacbitun in west-central Belize. Those results indicate that the vase once held concoctions containing cacao, willow and possibly vanilla. Significantly, the results also confirm residues of the important Maya ritual drink balché, in an ancient container. By placing the vase and its contents in the history of Pacbitun, we demonstrate the important role of this object and its contents in dedicatory rituals practiced in this region; we argue that subsequent disturbance of the context and the vase in antiquity points to the fragmentation of kingship.

- by Christina Luke and +1
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- Mesoamerican Archaeology, Food Chemistry, Maya Epigraphy, Central American History and Culture

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is an important economic crop, yet studies of its domestication history and early uses are limited. Traditionally, cacao is thought to have been first domesticated in Mesoamerica. However, genomic research shows that T. cacao’s greatest diversity is in the upper Amazon region of northwest South America, pointing to this region as its centre of origin. Here, we report cacao use identified by three independent lines of archaeological evidence—cacao starch grains, absorbed theobromine residues and ancient DNA—dating from approximately 5,300 years ago recovered from the Santa Ana-La Florida (SALF) site in southeast Ecuador. To our knowledge, these findings constitute the earliest evidence of T. cacao use in the Americas and the first unequivocal archaeological example of its pre-Columbian use in South America. They also reveal the upper Amazon region as the oldest centre of cacao domestication yet identified.

- by Sonia Zarrillo and +3
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- Archaeology, Amazonia, Ecuador, Domestication

Every chocolate lover should know that Trinidad and Tobago is the birthplace of Trinitario cacao trees that produce Trinitario cocoa beans. For those who enjoy dark chocolate, and indeed all others, being the 'cradle' of Trinitario cacao and cocoa is a very laudable distinction for the twin-island republic of Trinidad & Tobago (also the birthplace of steel pan). Criollo and Trinitario cocoa beans are among the select cocoa beans collectively known as "fine or flavour" cocoa (http://www.innovactplatform.eu/value-chains/fine-flavour-cocoa) that is used to manufacture fine (dark or gourmet) chocolates and covertures throughout the world, and commands premium prices on the world market. Trinitario cacao is not known in the wild state; it is not found at the reputed centre of genetic diversity of cacao (in the vicinity of the headwaters of the Amazon River, South America). It only exists in cultivated areas. The term "Trinitario" was coined by the Spaniards, most likely in Venezuela, and means "from Trinidad". Trinitario cacao is the product of crossing, which first occurred in Trinidad, between the Criollo ("native") cacao, originally introduced by the Spanish colonists into the island in the 16th or early 17th century, and Forastero ("exotic") cacao that was later brought in from Venezuela after a "blast" , in 1727, destroyed the original Criollo plantings. This crossing or hybridisation occurred between these imported "Forasteros" and the surviving Criollo plants. The "Forasteros" were most likely "Amelonados" ('Calabacillos') from the Orinoco estuary (for more on the classification of cacao see Wood and Lass 1985). This hybridisation did not occur previously, in the wild, since the Criollo and Forastero cacao there were separated by physical barriers: mountains. Trinitarios were later transferred from Trinidad to Venezuela, and then to other countries in the region such as Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Suriname, and further afield to Central and South America (including Costa Rica and Mexico and Ecuador, respectively), and to Fiji, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Madagascar and Samoa in S.E. Asia, and the African countries of Cameroun, Ghana and Nigeria. In fact, Trinitario cacao is currently found wherever there has been or exists a mixture of Criollo and Amazon Forastero cacao planting material in close proximity.

- by Frances L . Bekele
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- Cocoa, Cocoa and chocolate, Cocoa-Market

Bayona es un puerto que se ubica en el sudoeste de Francia, a unos treinta kilómetros de la frontera con España. Su población actual es de cuarenta mil habitantes, la de su aglomeración urbana de más de cien miles. En la época moderna, era una ciudad de dimensión media, con una población de unos diez miles habitantes en el siglo XVIII. Es un sitio notable en geografía gastronómica de Francia, gracias a su jamón curado y a su chocolate. En este breve ensayo, son las grandes líneas de la historia de este último producto que les contaré. Producto mestizo por excelencia, el chocolate llegó un día en Bayona. Fue los principios de una relación particular entre una sociedad urbana y una comida. En relación con el gusto local para el chocolate se desarrolló una artesanía cuyas técnicas evolucionaron con el tiempo. Aromas y de sabores forman también parte de la historia del chocolate de Bayona, los consideraremos en una última parte.

Este estudio de caso analiza el rol de la tecnología en el proceso productivo del cacao y chocolate en la Fundación Conservación y Desarrollo y su empresa asociada, Aroma Ecuador. Tiene por objetivo comprender la construcción social de la tecnología de esta organización en una perspectiva interpretativa. Se utilizó como sustento teórico las tres dimensiones de la tecnología planteadas por Roberts y Grabowski; estas son definidas como tecnologías mecánicas, tecnologías humanas o físicas y tecnologías del conocimiento, categorías por primera vez utilizadas en este tipo de análisis. La metodología utilizada fue la etnografía focalizada, aplicada a la comprensión de la triple dimensión de la tecnología dentro de esta organización de desarrollo. Los resultados describen la importancia de este producto primario de exportación en la historia económica del Ecuador; luego, se retrata la organización como objeto del estudio de caso y el papel que tiene la tecnología en el proceso de producción de cacao y chocolate. Este trabajo destaca la presencia de las tecnologías del conocimiento en los cinco procesos identificados.

- by Andrés Abad and +1
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- Administración, Tecnologia, Estudios Organizacionales, Cocoa and chocolate

Las buenas prácticas de poscosecha del cacao son un conjunto de principios, normas y recomendaciones técnicas orientadas a obtener productos inocuos, así como asegurar la protección de los empleados y el medio ambiente. En esta guía se presentan algunas recomendaciones y sugerencias de buenas prácticas que deben ser aplicadas por las empresas que acopian y benefician el cacao, para obtener un producto final de alta calidad. Actualmente estas prácticas son de aplicación voluntaria, pero el consumidor cada día las exige más a través de su cadena de suministro, por lo que todo centro de acopio y beneficiado tendrá que implementar su sistema de buenas prácticas de poscosecha de cacao, cuyo valor adicional le permitirá a la empresa
ganar la confianza y buena reputación en el mercado como proveedor de granos secos de cacao de alta calidad.

Según la Norma CODEX STAN 87-1981, el chocolate (en algunas regiones también descrito como chocolate amargo, chocolate semidulce, chocolate oscuro o “chocolat fondant”) deberá contener, referido al extracto seco, no menos del 35% de... more

- by Marcelo Gutierrez
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- Chocolate, Cocoa and chocolate

The recommended way for fermenting the cocoa beans at tropical weather.

The origin of the words 'cacao' and 'chocolate' and their use in the reconstruction of the early history of Mesoamerica, remain very controversial issues. Cambell and Kaufman (1976, American Antiquity 41:80-89), for example, proposed that the word 'cacao' originated from Mixe-Zoque languages, thus possibly representing Olmec traditions. According to this argument, other Mesoamerican languages, including Nahuatl, borrowed the word as a symbol of prestige and Olmec influence. Other researchers claim the word 'chocolate' represents a more recent neologism, a possible Maya-Nahuatl hybrid, due to the late appearance of the word in central Mexico's Colonial sources. We refute the putative Mixe-Zoque origin of 'cacao' and provide linguistic evidence to propose that 'cacao,' like 'chocolate,' is a Uto-Aztecan term. Analysis of these words highlights general and particular evolutionary trends that originate from the Uto-Aztecan language family. In addition, we show that these two words were initially used as descriptive terms to refer to the shape of the plant's bean and the techniques of drink preparation. Etymological evidence verifies the use of a Mayan term for cacao as early as the Classic period (fourth century a.d.). This early appearance of the term in Mayan and the later diffusion of the Nahua word throughout all of Mesoamerica correlate with additional data to support the conclusion that Teotihuacanos spoke Nahuatl.

- by Karen Dakin and +1
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- Etymology, Mesoamerican linguistics, Cacao, Cocoa and chocolate

In cocoa farming forestland is a production factor. Cocoa planting is easiest and production costs are lowest in tropical forest. Historically, therefore, once forestland has been exhausted in a given geographical area planters tend to diversify into other production systems to avoid the poverty (induced by increasing factor cost) of post-forest cultivation. In modern times however cocoa planters exist in a value chain and post-forest diversification could threaten multinational companies relying on rural planters for their raw material. In 2014 ten of the world’s largest chocolate
multinationals combined, with more than $500 million in funding, to introduce a cocoa sustainability scheme called CocoaAction. In principle, CocoaAction and
similar sustainability schemes sponsored by western multinational chocolate companies are interventions to empower cocoa planters and planting communities
in West African countries. But in practice, as this article will show, these schemes are a response to diminishing returns in cocoa-producing communities and the
prospect of diversification, and the resulting projection of a shortage in raw material. There are signs that diversification away from cocoa will be beneficial to
cocoa planters and their communities. Cocoa sustainability schemes are therefore designed for the benefit of multinational chocolate companies and at the expense of diversification in West African countries.

- by Michael E . Odijie
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- African Studies, Economics, Development Economics, Political Economy

Analyse de la chaîne de valeur du cacao au Cameroun.

- by Guillaume Lescuyer
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- Value chain analysis, Cocoa and chocolate

Student Solution for Charles Chocolates Case Study for Corporate Strategy.

- by Ibrahim Al Jabberi
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- Economics, Development Economics, Development Studies, West Africa

Nigeria is a country located in the Gulf of Guinea that is comprised of thirty-six states and it is the fourth largest cocoa exporter in the world. Reduced rainfall and rising humidity in Nigeria are negatively affecting the production of... more

- by Caleb McIvor
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- Climate Change, Nigeria, Cocoa and chocolate, Cocoa-Market

Ir ao Pará e não comer Pato no Tucupí, ir a Lisboa e não saborear os tradicionais pastéis de Belém, ir ao Rio de Janeiro e não beber uma caipirinha ou ir ao sul do Brasil e não tomar um chimarrão é como não ir de fato a esses lugares. Na atmosfera de experiências sinestésicas turísticas, o mercado turístico tem buscado na gastronomia se reinventar, concebendo novos produtos e serviços. Nesse sentido, Belém do Pará, conformada por um mosaico de biodiversidade e de culturalidades, que materializam a sua rica e exótica culinária, possui representantes da culinária paraense que se tornaram os atuais símbolos no imaginário turístico-cultural do turismo gastronômico nacional, fenômeno merecedor de investigação por parte dos autores.

- by Flavio Henrique Lobato
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- Gastronomia, Cocoa and chocolate, Turismo Gastronómico, Belém do Pará

Una vez que el agricultor ha logrado obtener una cosecha rentable como resultado de un apropiado manejo de su plantación, también se torna importante darle un tratamiento adecuado a los granos recolectados a fin de que éstos sirvan de... more

Mattia è un giovane geometra molto bravo e sicuro di sé che si ritrova nei guai. Kamal, un operaio egiziano che lavora in uno dei cantieri gestiti da Mattia, cade dal tetto a causa delle mancanti condizioni di sicurezza e per questo Mattia rischia una denuncia. In cambio del silenzio, Kamal propone a Mattia di prendere il suo posto al corso di pasticceria che avrebbe dovuto frequentare la settimana successiva all'incidente. Kamal era un pasticciere ad Addis Abeba, ma per farlo anche in Italia deve frequentare un corso per imparare a fare la cioccolata e ottenere un attestato. Mattia accetta e ben presto, da geometra italiano, giovane ed elegante, si ritrova ad essere un apprendista pasticciere, egiziano, più anziano e dai vestiti semplici.

- by Habibah Wasdah Sujati
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- Cocoa and chocolate, PKM, Contoh Pkm, Kardiovaskuler

This study reports on the extent to which sustainability initiatives in the cocoa, coffee and soy value chains have been scaled up by companies. We have investigated how the private sector can be further stimulated to engage in, sustain and increase their involvement in actions to increase the sustainability of commodity chains with links to the Netherlands. The report analyses the motives for companies to join sustainability initiatives and their reasons for not engaging. It concludes with several recommendations on how government and value-chain stakeholders could further stimulate the scaling up of sustainability initiatives.

- by Verina Ingram and +2
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- Development Studies, International Trade, Commodity Chains, Coffee

Multistrata agroforests comprise a wide range of agroforestry practices that includes assemblage of woody and nonwoody plant components, with the wide range of practices on the continuum from using shade trees in perennial plantation to very diversified agroforests that mimic the original forest-like structure. In the humid tropical lowlands, such systems often consist of cocoa (Theobroma cacao) grown under the shade of trees. In this review, we explore the reliability of research on and the feasibility of achieving the environmental and economic benefits of cocoa agro-forests, highlighting future opportunities and challenges of cocoa growing. Unsustainable intensification in a form of monocultures with high agricultural inputs reduces ecological resilience of a land-use system, whereas paradoxically, environmental and climate changes require more than ever a higher capacity of land-use systems to cope with increasing global environmental pressure. Over the past decade, a number of new studies focusing on cocoa agroforests have been published. We review current cultivation of cocoa in the world and outline the establishment and management of cocoa agroforests. Further on, we explored the idea that cocoa agro-B. Lojka (*) · L. Pawera · V. Verner 588 forests could be a solution to prevent phenomenon of boom-and-bust cycle of cocoa cultivation and highlighted the possibilities for improvement of cocoa cultivation using its vast genetic base. Then the benefits of cocoa agroforests for (agro)biodiver-sity and soil conservation are summarized and economic perspectives of multistrata systems assessed. In final discussion, we performed a SWOT analysis, highlighting future opportunities and challenges and proposing recommendation to improve the extension, adoption and sustainability of cocoa agroforests. Keywords Agrobiodiversity · Cocoa farming · Genetic diversity · Soil management · SWOT analysis · Theobroma cacao

- by Lukas Pawera
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- Ethnobotany, Agroforestry, Cocoa and chocolate

ABSTRAK Mutu biji kakao kering dapat dipengaruhi oleh beberapa hal di antaranya kerusakan yang disebabkan oleh jamur kontaminan penghasil toksin (mikotoksin). Keberadaan jamur tersebut dapat dideteksi sejak kegiatan panen dan pasca panen, seperti sortasi, fermentasi, pencucian, pengeringan, dan penyimpanan. Jenis jamur kontaminan yang sering ditemukan selama tahapan ini berlangsung antara lain marga Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Rhizopus, dan Mucor. Faktor-faktor yang mempengaruhi perkembangan jamur antara lain: suhu dan kelembaban, kadar air, aktivitas serangga, dan penanganan pascapanen. Mikotoksin dihasilkan dari metabolit jamur-jamur kontaminan, dan jenis yang mendominasi pada biji kakao adalah aflatoksin dan okratoksin. Kedua jenis mikotoksin tersebut selain dapat menurunkan mutu maupun kuantitas biji dan produk olahannya, juga bersifat toksik/racun yang berbahaya bagi manusia karena dapat menyebabkan gangguan kesehatan seperti kanker hati dan ginjal. Oleh karena itu, perlu dilakukan pencegahan dan pengendalian terhadap jamur kontaminan penghasil mikotoksin pada semua tahapan kegiatan untuk memperoleh biji kakao kering dengan mutu terbaik. ABSTRACT Quality of dried cocoa beans can be affected by several things, one of them is the damage caused by fungal contaminants that produce toxin (mycotoxin). The existence of these fungi can be detected from the harvest and post-harvest activities, including sorting, fermentation, washing, drying, and storage. These types of fungal contaminants that often found during those processes are genera Aspergillus, Penicillium, Fusarium, Rhizopus, and Mucor. Factors that influence the development of fungi are temperature and humidity, moisture, insect activity, and postharvest handling. Mycotoxins are generated from metabolites of fungal contaminants, in which the most dominant types on cocoa beans are aflatoxin and ochratoxin. These two types of fungal contaminants can reduce the quality and quantity of cocoa beans and its processed products. Besides, this toxin is also toxic/poison to humans because it can cause health problems such as liver and cancer. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent and control these fungal contaminants at all stages of activities in order to obtain dry beans with the best quality.

- by Tajul Iflah
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- Postharvest Horticulture, Mycotoxins, Plant Protection, Cocoa and chocolate
- by Chris Gauthier
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- Health Sciences, Nutrition, Food and Nutrition, Holistic Health

1. O cacau é originário das bacias dos rios Orenoco e Amazonas. Era consumido pelas populações indígenas -então aproveitavam sobretudo a polpa que envolvia as favas do cacau e o óleo que tinha fins terapêuticos e também era utilizado como combustível rituale tinha como principais inimigos os macacos, os ratos e diversos insectos 1 que, decerto, terão sido os primeiros consumidores. Aos animais terá também ficado a dever-se a dispersão para norte, até às actuais Costa Rica e Nicarágua, e para sul, até ao Equador 2 . O cacaueiro é, nesta conformidade, uma planta das regiões quentes e tropicais por excelência. A árvore do cacau, cujo nome científico é, na classificação setecentista de Lineu, Theobroma cacao L. 3 , significa exactamente bebida dos deuses. Os Maias do período clássico (séculos III-X) foram os primeiros a cultivar cacau de forma sistemática. Então servia como moeda e era também consumido como bebida, uma vez que aquele povo descobriu que secando, moendo e misturando as favas de cacau com água se obtinha uma bebida: o xocolatl 4 . O cultivo do cacau passou ao povo Toltec (séculos X-XII) e, posteriormente, para os Aztecas (séculos XII-XVI), que não só o utilizavam como moeda, como bebida consumida quente ou morna, à qual juntaram baunilha, especiarias e farinha de milho, como ainda usaram a flor do cacau para curar determinados males 5 . No sul da América central era utilizado desde há muito como alimento e como bebida pelos índios desde as actuais Honduras até ao Panamá e fronteiras com a Colômbia. No Brasil, algumas tribos utilizavam a polpa desfeita em licor suave, o que na expressão de Sebastião da Rocha Pitta servia de "regalado vinho aos naturais" 6 . A queima de sementes como incenso, em braseiros, figurava como prática mágico-religiosa dos índios Cuna do Panamá 7 . No início do século XVI, os * Agradecemos informações e sugestões a

- by Isabel Drumond Braga
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- Gastronomy, Portuguese History, Food History, Gastronomia

“TO ANALYZE RETAILERS EXPERIENCE OF SELLING SCHMITTEN AS A BRAND OF CHOCOLATE”

- by Rishi Patel
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- Supply Chain Management, Customer Satisfaction, Retail Marketing, Cocoa and chocolate

This study was carried out to determine the functional and antioxidative properties of blends of sorghum ogi flour and cocoa powder. The blends were produced by adding cocoa powder in proportional gradients of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50% to sorghum ogi. The pH, total titratable acidity, bulk density, oil absorption capacity and least gelation concentration of the resulting samples as determined were 4.13 to 6.69, 0.109 to 0.198%, 0.515 to 0.646 g/mL, 133.50 to 144.24% and 6 to 12%, respectively. The swelling power and solubility of the blends decreased with the inclusion of cocoa powder but increased with increase in temperature upon evaluation. The water absorption capacity increased with addition of cocoa powder and increase in temperature. The extent of relationship of the swelling power, solubility and water absorption capacity of all the samples, control sample (100% ogi sample) inclusive, to temperature was found to be polynomial in nature. The antioxidative activities (DPPH radical scavenging ability, ferric reducing ability, metal chelating ability and total phenolic content) of the blends also increased proportionately with increase in the inclusion of cocoa powder. The study established that the inclusion of cocoa powder enhanced the functional and antioxidative properties of the enriched sorghum ogi samples.

- by Tunji Odunlade
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- Food Product Development, Cocoa, Sorghum, Cocoa and chocolate

Las principales actividades económicas en la isla de Bioko (Fernando Poo) durante el primer tercio del s. XX fueron el cultivo y comercio del cacao. Este producto empezó a tener importancia al finales del s. XX coincidiendo con la rápida industrialización de la fabricación del sector chocolatero en toda Europa. El auge del cacao permitió que entre 1890 y 1910 llegaran a Bioko los primeros capitales metropolitanos, la mayoría de los cuales procedentes de Cataluña. Rápidamente Barcelona se erigió en el centro neurálgico de los negocios guineanos y el lugar desde el cual se crearon la mayoría de las organizaciones empresariales que intentaban incidir en las políticas coloniales.
La Unión de Agricultores de la Guinea Española (1923-41) fue una de las organizaciones que tuvieron un mayor protagonismo, principalmente por su capacidad de controlar desde Barcelona el mercado colonial de cacao. Así mismo, esta entidad constituye un espacio privilegiado para observar las múltiples luchas y juegos de intereses entre los principales empresarios coloniales.

- by Jordi Sant Gisbert
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- History, Colonialism, Historia, Equatorial Guinea

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- by Marcy Norton
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- Atlantic World, Food and Nutrition, Mesoamerica, Spain