Transforming the Cocoa Bean into a Commodity

Cocoa is often grown alongside ‘shade trees’, referred to as ‘mothers’, such as coconut, banana or plantains. The ripe cocoa pods, which come in many shapes, sizes and colours (generally looking like rugby balls up to 30 cm long), are harvested with great care. A machete is used to cut the pod from the tree trunk, and the knife must be cleaned after each cut, in order to prevent disease being spread in the humid growing conditions on the plantations. The pod is slashed open and the many small white fruit are piled on a mat of plantain leaves. The mound of beans is then covered with more leaves and left to ferment for seven days. Soft white flesh, which tastes a little like rambutan or mangosteen, surrounds the glossy dark seed, which is, in fact, the cocoa bean. The sweet flesh provides the sugar for the natural fermentation process that allows the beans to develop their characteristic chocolatey flavour. The residue of the fruit evaporates, and leaves behind traces of acetic acid.