Theobroma cacao L.=
Cacao theobroma = C.minor = C.sativa
Fam. Sterculiaceae
Description
Cocoa is a tree in nature 8-10 m tall, less (4-5 m) if cultivated. Large, alternate leaves and small white or pink flowers with 5 petals, rising directly on the trunk or on large branches (caulifioria). The "cabosse" fruit is an indehiscent oval capsule, even up to 25 cm long with a thick leathery skin, yellow or red when ripe; internally it contains a yellowish-white pulp where 20-80 flattened seeds of the size of a bean are immersed, covered with a hard and dry red-purplish layer. The cocoa almond, used part, is made up almost entirely of two large cotyledons, and is almost devoid of albumen. There are many varieties.
Areal and culture
Cocoa is native to Central America where it was already cultivated in the pre-Columbian era and is currently cultivated in various tropical regions (Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela, Ecuador) also in Central Africa. It is a delicate crop and only possible in tropical regions. : the plants are planted 5 m apart and generally intercalated with legumes, such as Inga, or Albizzia, called cocoa mothers, which serve to provide them with some shade and to protect them from the wind. The cocoa plant blooms in the third year and begins to produce from the fifth-sixth.
A cocoa tree produces an average of 30-50 pods, which gives a maximum of 1 kg of dry seeds. To make the seeds ready for consumption, you make them undergo one fermentation for 8-10 days, followed by one drying it's a squeezing, during which the fat is separated from the seeds.
The fat, after refining, will make up the cocoa butter.
To obtain the chocolate instead, the procedure continues with one roasting at 120-140 ° C and the grinding: this is how cocoa powder is obtained.
Uses
The cocoa butter has an ivory white color with a pleasant cocoa smell; it is made up of stearic, palmitic and oleic acid glycerides, it melts at temperatures just below the body temperature (32-35 °). For this reason it is used in the preparation of suppositories (pharmacy), but it is also widely used in the food industry. Its action as an emollient and protective agent is well known for which it is used in cosmetics for the manufacture of soaps, creams, lipsticks and ointments for the lips. In the "industry it is used to extract the essences from flowers with the" enfleurage "system
The use of the plant, however, is above all the alimentary one linked to the preparation of chocolate. This name derives even from the Aztecs who prepared a hot and foamy drink with the roasted and ground seeds or mixed cocoa powder with corn or cassava flour, honey and vanilla and other aromas, making it a paste called "chocolatl" Theobroma cocoa, given by Linnaeus, indicates the appreciation for these products, in fact it means: food of the gods.
See also: cocoa and pharmacognosy
Cocoa Tagliatelle - Recipe for Valentine's Day
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