Did you know that cocoa must be fermented before the bean can be considered consumable? I recently had the opportunity to visit a cocoa farm while in Costa Rica. I found the production of this specialty crop very interesting and hope you all will as well. This review provides a great background and history of cocoa production. There is a long-standing history of cocoa production, as the earliest record of its consumption was in 1900 B.C.E. While we think of cocoa for its beans, there is also a history of using the fruit itself for various purposes. This microbial process is one of the few that continue to happen spontaneously, without the use of a starter, that occurs on farms. The natural fermentation of cocoa includes yeasts, lactic acid bacteria, and acetic bacteria which produce the ethanol, lactic acid, and acetic acid needed before drying. The fermentation and drying process is what begins to give the cocoa the taste we typically think of when we eat chocolate. Another interesting point is that scientists have isolated different bacterium from cocoa fermentations in varying countries and can also see differences in varying time points throughout the process. More in-depth information can be found about the fermentation process in this article. While fermentation is a key step in production, cocoa must also be harvested, cleaned, dried, roasted, hulled, pressed, and ground before it can finally be used in production. The International Cocoa Organization explains all the details of processing cocoa here.
Photo Credit: Sydney Moore