Cocoa plays a vital role in Ghana’s economy. Ghana is currently the second largest exporter of cocoa beans. The industry employs close to 800,000 farm families covering six of the ten regions of Ghana. Cocoa and cocoa products generates about $2 billion in foreign exchange annually and is a major contributor to Government Revenue and GDP.
History has it cocoa beans were first introduced into Ghana by Tetteh Quarshie. Who smuggled them in from a visit to Fernando Po (now Bioko in today's Equatorial Guinea). Little did He know we was carrying the seeds that will feed countless future generations.
Theobroma cacao is the botanical name the plant also called the cocoa tree. It is a small evergreen tree (usually 4 – 8m tall) and grows in the tropical regions of Central and South America as well as Africa.
The Maya believed the cocoa plant was discovered by the gods in a mountain that also contained other delectable foods. “According to Maya mythology, the Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created from maize by divine grandmother goddess Xmucane”.
They had an annual festival to honour the cocoa god (Ek Chuah). Activities during this festival included sacrificing a dog with cocoa-coloured markings together with other offerings such as feathers, incense etc.
The Cocoa plant flowers all year through. The stem of the plant is covered by thousands of white and pink flowers. Of these only a few (less than fifty) will actually develop into cocoa pods. Twice a year this pods will be matured and ready for harvesting.
In Ghana the main harvest season are between October to March and from May to August. Cocoa is harvested by cutting the ripe pods from the trees, breaking them open and extracting the beans. The beans are fermented for 6 or 7 days with two/three turnings before drying for another 7 days in the sun. The beans are then bagged, graded and sealed for export.
Farmers cut the outer peel of the cocoa pods open with long knives exposing the fruit pulp inside. The pod will usually contain from 40 to 50 seeds (cocoa beans) covered in whitish pulp.
Once harvested the beans undergo a two-stage process to prepare them for sale. These two processes - fermentation and drying - transition the bitter cocoa bean to what eventually ends up as the taste we all love in chocolate products.
Fermentation helps in developing ‘aromatics’ of the cocoa beans. The cocoa beans are heaped on leaves (plantain leaves) and covered with the same. This deposits are left in the heat for 5 – 8 days to ferment.
Sugars, acids and yeast start the fermentation process. The fermentation generates a lot of heat which destroys the ability of the beans to germinate. The heat turns the pulp into a liquid which drains away leaving behind organic compounds in the beans that start to change its colour and tastes into what we normally associate with chocolates. The colour of the beans change from grey to brown.
Finally the beans are dried. The fermented beans are then spread out (often over mats made from bamboo or palm fronds) and allowed to dry in the sun for about 6 -12 days. The beans are turned regurlarly to prevent it from sticking together. This process reduces the moisture content from about 60% to less than 8%.
The beans are then packed into jute bags and stored in ventilated warehouses from where they are transported to processing plants.
The beans are sorted and cleaned and then roasted at between 120ºC - 149ºC. The roasting develops the colour and is enhances the development of the chocolate flavour that began during fermentation process.
After roasting the beans are crushed to release the internal "nib" from the shells. The cocoa nibs are separated from the shell by passing it through an air tunnel. The separated ni9bs are ground into cocoa mass (a thick brown liquid). Cocoa mass is 55 – 60% cocoa butter with fine cocoa particles.
The cocoa butter is separated from the fine particles by pressing the cocoa mass. The result is cocoa powder often used in chocolate drinks, cooking etc.
By combining different amounts of cocoa butter, cocoa mass, sugar milk etc. chocolate is produced. The mixture is stirred continuously over several days which results in the smooth and silky texture of chocolate. This process is called – conching. The mixture then undergoes a tempering process which involves cooling whilst moving in a machine. The resulting mixture is called couverture and forms the basis of most finished chocolate products.
The result is chocolate which can be formed into bars, used in ice cream etc. White chocolate has no cocoa powder and is made from cocoa butter and sugar. There are different varieties of cholate on the market with different manufactures adding different “spices’ to make their brands unique