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Addictive Brown Powder and Biodiversity |
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Osa Conservation |
According to Aztec legend the tree comes from paradise in the garden of the god Quetzalcoatl. It was brought to earth for the delight of man. Linneas had probably heard of this legend when he gave the plant the Latin genus name Theobroma meaning “food of the gods.” The Aztecs held the product in great esteem and consumed it in the form of smooth but bitter hot drink. They pulverized the seeds into a dust which was placed in a receptacle set on the ground. Boiling water was held high above the head in a second ceramic pot and poured onto the dark brown powder. This process was repeated, pouring hot liquid from one pot to the other, until it formed a thick head of foam. Then the beverage was drunk from golden goblets. The Aztecs learned about the seeds, the source of the brown powder from the Mayas. About the size and shape of an almond they were considered to be quite valuable and were commonly used as currency by pre-Columbian cultures. Because of the high cost of acquiring the seeds from the Mayas, only the Aztec royalty and the very wealthy could afford to consume the addictive drink.
I’m never quite sure what to call the Theobroma cacao tree in English. The correct name in both Spanish and English is the “cacao” tree, but the bitter dark powder it produces is called “cacao” in Spanish and “cocoa” in English. Sometimes I just tell people they are chocolate trees, but that isn’t right either. No matter what I call it, a certain question invariably comes up. A typical conversation goes something like this:
VISITOR: “I believe I remember reading somewhere,” (studious frown while looking up into the trees,) “that in some parts of the world,” (gingerly reaching up and pulling a leaf off of the nearest cacao tree,) “people chew on the leaves of this tree...” (nonchalantly stuffing the leaf in his pocket and grabbing another.)
JACK: “Sorry pal, you’re at the wrong altitude in the wrong country, and you’re thinking about the source of an addictive white powder, not a brown one. Hey you idiot, get that leaf out of your mouth. See that white spot on top of it? That came out of a bird!”
Seriously though, both words, “cocoa” and “cacao,” are derived from the language of the Mayas of Central America. They come from a combination of the words “kaj” and “kab”, which mean bitter and juice respectively. “Chocolate” comes from the Maya words “chacau” and “kaa” meaning a hot drink. These words became “cacauhaltl” and “xocoatl” in the language of the Aztecs and eventually came to be cacao and chocolate in Spanish and “cocoa” and “chocolate” in English. Just remember that “cacao” is the tree and “cocoa” is the product, a seed ground into a dark brown powder which is used to make chocolate.
The cacao plant apparently originated in South America in the Amazon and Orinoco basins. It is not known if the Mayas were the first to cultivate it, but they certainly perfected the process of growing, harvesting, fermenting and drying the beans in much the same manner as it is done today. The Mayas lived in Central America where Theobroma thrives. The cocoa drink was quite popular with them and was available to everyone, not for the exclusive delight of the upper classes, as was the case with the Aztecs.
Cocoa was first introduced into Spain by Cortés in 1528. By 1585 the trade in the delicious brown beans had become so important that, by law, it could be exported only to Spain. Two merchant fleets, escorted by war ships from the armada, sailed each year to carry the valuable cargo back to the mother country. The Spanish royalty jealously guarded the secret of the cultivation and processing of the cocoa bean, but the demand grew to such proportions that they planted it in many places including the Caribbean islands of Martinique and Trinidad. Later the British acquired these two islands and the cacao that was planted there. It was the British who took the tree to Africa. The African soils and climate were ideal, and it thrived there. Today the greatest production in the world comes from the small west African country of Ivory Coast.With the spread of Theobroma, throughout the tropics, other European countries eventually acquired their own sources of the cocoa bean and began producing and experimenting to develop improved methods of manufacturing chocolate. The most important improvement was the addition of milk by Daniel Peter at Vevey, Switzerland in 1876. The only other major advance, which came a little later, was the use of powdered sugar, which allowed the confection of chocolate covering for pastries, ice cream and a multitude of other products. It is worth mentioning that once cocoa is introduced into a country, per capita consumption always increases. A decrease has never been recorded anywhere in the world.
At Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge several different kinds of cacao grow wild within the primary rain forest, and about a dozen wild varieties have been identified by botanists throughout the lowlands of Costa Rica. Nobody knows for sure how these wild species happen to be growing here. The plants may have come from seed stock cultivated by pre-Columbian people, or possibly arrived in Central America by purely natural means. I have never found a wild cacao pod with an intact mature fruit. The wildlife eat them as fast as the tree produces them. Fortunately the animals drop enough seeds on the ground which germinate, develop into trees and perpetuate the species.
Between 1979 and 1982 we planted 10 hectares of cacao on Hacienda Barú. Mature pods were harvested and opened by laborers with machetes, the seeds dumped into wooden boxes to ferment and, one week later, put out in the sun to dry. The drying stage was when we all got addicted. The dried seeds look like almonds but have a thin outer shell which can be removed by human fingers. Everyone I have ever known who works with cocoa is constantly peeling the seeds and popping them into their mouths. Even the chickens get hooked and have to be locked up during the drying; otherwise they would eat too much of the production and contaminate the rest with their droppings. But all good things must end. In 1987 the world market for cocoa beans dropped so low that most Costa Rican producers, Hacienda Barú included, quit harvesting and abandoned their plantations. Now we have to buy chocolate to satisfy our cravings.
A variety of wildlife took advantage of the absence of human activity in the plantations and began to come in and eat the cacao fruits. White-faced capuchin monkeys (Cebus capucinus) and variegated tree squirrels (Sciurus variegatoides) were the most visible. Monkeys feed by ripping cacao pods off the trees, taking a few bites and throwing more than half of the uneaten fruit on the ground. Squirrels leave the pod on the tree, bite a hole in the side and eat as much as they can while most of the seeds break loose from the pod and tumble to the ground. On the forest floor the nutritious cocoa seeds become food for large rodents such as paca (Agouti paca) and agouti (Dasyprocta punctata,) and various species of rats and opossums. The white-nosed coati (Nasua narica) does climb trees, but I have only seen it eating cocoa seeds from the ground. Behind all of these seed eating mammals come an array of predators ranging from the large weasel-like tyra (Eira barbara) to the ocelot (Leopardus pardalis.)
In addition to cacao seeds the monkeys feed on ants, large insects and many kinds of insect larvae that prosper in the abandoned plantations. Birds like the slaty-tailed trogon (Trogon massena) and the orange-chinned parakeet (Brotogeris jugularis) hollow out their own nest chambers within the large, black spherical termite nests that appear in the dead branches of unpruned cacao trees. Tamanduas (Tamandua mexicana,) more commonly known as anteaters, also frequent these sites where they prey on the termites that eat the dead wood. Other termite predators include several species of anole lizards which in turn become prey to hawks and owls. Biologists have been amazed at the amount of biodiversity present in abandoned cacao plantations.
At Hacienda Barú National Wildlife Refuge, we have been opening up small areas within the old cacao plantations and planting other native species of trees which will attract different types of insects, birds and mammals and further increase biodiversity. We also intend to harvest a portion of the cacao while still leaving most of the pods for the wildlife. Our share will be made into be a totally natural product.
Organic cocoa is a specialty food which can be processed and marketed locally. Before cocoa reaches you in the form of a Hershey Bar or Mars Bar, it undergoes substantial changes. Some of the natural components are removed and replaced by other substances. The biggest change is the removal cocoa butter, a valuable ingredient used in the cosmetic industry, which is replaced with vegetable oil. Then sugar, milk and other ingredients are added. The end product is creamier, more heat resistant, sweeter, more attractive, a lot more fattening and a lot cheaper to produce. Everything that is added to cocoa costs less than pure cocoa. With other addictive substances, this dilution process is called “cutting.” Chocolate manufactures would probably object to that term. Locally produced organic cocoa can be processed with the original cocoa butter still in the final product, that is, without cutting the addictive brown powder. Although high in calories cocoa butter is poorly digested by humans and isn’t readily assimilated by the body. That’s right! It doesn’t make you fat. Listen up all you chocolate junkies? You can indulge your habit without fear of breaking the bathroom scale.
It has been said that eating chocolate imparts a feeling exactly like falling in love. Maybe that is why so many people love chocolate.
For those who would like to read more about cacao I recommend the November/December 2001 issue of World Watch magazine. Also, there is an excellent book in Spanish, Curso Sobre El Cultivo Del Cacao, by Gustavo A. Enriquez Ph.D., head of the cocoa department at the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE.)
Article courtesy of Jack Ewing |
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