homeland chocolate tree recognized lands in Central and South America.Now a wild cocoa (chocolate tree), belonging to the family sterculioideae almost can not be found.The plant has been domesticated since the time of the development of the South American land by the Spaniards.It is cultivated on plantations.
Theobroma - ancient Greek name of the tree, which means "food of the gods."It really lives up to its name.Delicacies produced from cocoa beans have a divine taste.Chocolate, whether it is hot drink, hard tile, candy, toothpaste or cream, is a constant delight everyone.
Areal
cocoa growing in the regions where the growing chocolate tree, dominated by special climatic conditions.Basically, it is cultivated in the tropics, stretching across America, Africa and Oceania.African States - the main supplier of cocoa beans.They supply the world market to 70% of this product.
recognized as the largest supplier of Ghana.In the capital of this country - Accra - it built the largest African market where sell cocoa beans.Vintage chocolate beans in Ivory Coast (Cote d'Ivoire) reaches 30% of the total produced in the world.Indonesia is also considered a major market player.
Many collect fruit to chocolate trees on the island of Bali, where the combination of mountain climate and fertile volcanic soil is ideal for growing cocoa.Driven cacao seeds from Nigeria, Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, Malaysia and Colombia.
Terms growing cocoa
is difficult to find a tree whimsical than cocoa.It requires special conditions for life.Develop and produce fruit an incredible sissy - chocolate tree - able only in the multi-storey tropical forests.The plant settles in the lower tier of the forest.There, where the shade and do not go away moisture and temperature regime is kept at levels from +24 to +28 0 C. It likes
place with fertile, friable, nestled fallen leaves soil where the incessant pouring rain and no wind.These conditions of growth capable of creating a canopy formed in the multi-storey tropical rain forests.
For example, in the Amazon basin with the onset of the rainy season when the river tributaries, coming from the banks are converted into endless lowland lake depth meter, every tree chocolate for weeks is almost in the water.However, in these conditions, plants do not rot, but on the contrary, continue to evolve.
chocolate Growing tree plantations
Wayward chocolate tree demanding on the temperature conditions.It is not capable of developing if the temperature does not rise above 21 0 C. The optimum temperature for its growth is considered to be 40 0 C. At the same time, it is harmful direct sunlight.
Therefore, in order to ensure the normal growth of the trees, they are planted in mixed plantings.Cocoa excellent feeling among avocado, banana, mango, coconut and rubber trees.Whimsical trees, easily subject to a variety of diseases that require constant care and careful maintenance.Yield to remove them manually.
Description chocolate tree
The average height of evergreen trees straight-trunk 6 meters.However, in some instances it does not cost anything to grow up to 9 and even 15 meters.The trunks of the plants (up to 30 cm in circumference with yellowish wood) covers brown bark and wide crown branching thick crown.
trees able to live in the shadow of plantations, flooded by rain, have a huge oblong-elliptic leaves.The value of entire regular thin evergreen leaves, seated on short stalks, is comparable to the size of a newspaper page.Their length is about 40 cm and a width of about 15 cm.
Thanks leaves giant chocolate tree catches the crumbs of light, barely trickling through lush green plants, endowed with greater height.For the growth of the giant foliage is not characterized by a gradual (not the leaves bloom one after the other).She tend to develop like a wave.That leaves the word freeze for several weeks and even months and do not grow at all, then suddenly there is an extraordinary surge in their development - both dissolved a few.
Fruiting occurs year-round.The first flowering and fruit notes in the 5-6 year life of the plant.Fruiting period lasts them for 30-80 years.Fruiting tree chocolate twice a year.Bountiful harvest yields after 12 years of life.
beams formed small pinkish-white flowers, punched right through the crust covering the trunks and large branches.Pollinate the blossoms, exuding a foul odor, lice, woodlice.Brown and yellow fruits similar form to a small elongated ribbed melon, hanging from the trunk.Their surface is indented with ten grooves.
seeds chocolate tree
they require aging for 4 months.Because such a long ripening fruit trees all the time, and studded with flowers, and fruits.Fruits 30 cm, 5-20 cm in diameter and weighing 200-600 g hiding 30-50 cocoa beans.Beans tightened dense leathery shell of yellow, red or orange tones.The length of each amygdala seed - 2-2.5 cm, and width - 1.5 cm.
longitudinal rows of beans surrounded by juicy sweetish pulp, which proteins and monkeys revered for a treat.They suck the watery pulp, throwing out what is valuable to people - beans, used as a raw material for the production of cocoa and chocolate.
Harvesting cocoa
Since chocolate tree high enough to collect the fruits are used not only machetes and knives attached to long poles.Previous fruit cut into 2-4 lobes.Beans, extracted from the pulp manually lay out to dry on the leaves of banana trays or in a closed box.
When drying cacao seeds in the sun turns sweet-bitter taste with hints of tart, less valuable.Therefore, preference is given to closed-dried beans.The period of fermentation takes from 2 to 9 days.During the drying process the quantity of seed reduced.
seed processing
Cocoa beans brown-purple shades have a buttery taste and a pleasant aroma.Seeds, sorted, cleaned, roasted and delivered from the parchment shells, crushed and screened through a sieve to obtain a high quality cocoa powder.
parchment is used as a fertilizer, as a powder for further processing takes any chocolate factory.Chocolate tree, or rather his raw material obtained from the seeds - the perfect base for a variety of delicacies.
from fried crumbs, ground into a thick mass of stretching, by cooling, bitter chocolate.Infusing the resulting mixture with sugar, vanilla, milk powder and other additives to give different chocolate.
from fried fruit subjected to pressing, the cocoa butter was prepared.Little left after pressing, ground into cocoa powder.Thus, two valuable product gives humanity chocolate tree.Confectionary and uses powder and butter, releasing all sorts of chocolate goodies.The oil is also widely used in the manufacture of perfumes, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical agents.
Use Cocoa Cocoa
not just a tasty treat, it has healing properties.Its composition is based on a protein, fiber, gums, alkaloids, theobromine, fat, starch and pigments.Due to theobromine, has a tonic effect, cocoa has been used in medicine.With it successfully suppress the disease of the throat and lungs.
goodies and pharmacological preparations of cocoa restore strength and comfort.They normalize the heart.Their use in prevention of myocardial infarction, stroke and cancer.Cocoa butter heal hemorrhoids.
