Cacao: Cultivo, Transformación y Beneficios | Propiedades y Sabores - TvAgro por Juan Gonzalo Angel

Cocoa is a plant and the common name of the seeds of it. It also refers to the product derived from these seeds, which is used to make chocolate and other related products. The cocoa tree can reach a height of up to 6 meters, although in commercial crops they are usually kept lower to facilitate the harvest of the mazorcas. The plant has a short trunk and extended branches. The cocoa mazorcas are the fruit of the tree and can reach a length of 15 to 30 centimeters. They have an oval shape and are covered with a hard and rough shell. Each mazorca contains a white and sweet pulp, and inside the pulp are the cocoa seeds. The process to make a good cocoa crop consists of several stages. The first stage is the establishment, the second is the sustenance, and the last is the production. First, we look for climate conditions and soil conditions that are suitable for cultivation. Cocoa is produced very well in Colombia between 0 and 1,250 meters above sea level. In the beginning, the physical properties of the soil are very important, as well as the chemical properties. All tropical soils have a relative particularity, which is that they are poor in chemical elements, the pH is very low and the acidity is very high. After selecting the soil, we must choose the seed and the material that we are going to plant very well. In general, the crops in the last 20 years have been established, let's say, with clonal materials, that is, with inserts. So this consists of two parts, the pattern and the clonal material as such, which are the yolks that we are going to use in the insertion. This cocoa tree is six years old. This tree is neither too big nor too high. The cocoa is a tropical fruit. It can be found in Indonesia, in Ghana, among others. The cocoa tree produces a flower after three years. So after three years, they start to produce a small flower like this. And from the flower comes the cocoa bean, like this one that we see here. This one still has a small petal at the top. And this is the cocoa bean. It is very small. In about five or six months, it will be this size. The cocoa is not a seasonal fruit. You can harvest it every month. And this tree is very productive. From one tree, you can harvest between 10 to 15 cocoa beans. To get one kilogram of cocoa beans, you need 25 cocoa beans. And from one kilogram of beans, you can get 700 grams of cocoa beans. My life project started when I was very young. When I was little, my parents fed me with chocolate. 100% natural cocoa. My mom taught me how to turn cocoa into chocolate. And when I organized my life as a young wife, my children were fed with pure cocoa chocolate. So for me, that was very beautiful. When my children grew up, we thought about making cocoa for our livelihood. To live from it, so that people know about cocoa, so that people learn to eat well with pure chocolate. It's great, it's a lot of love. For the world to know us for being united in this region, and as a family, even better. The cocoa plant, or Theobroma cacao, is native to the tropical regions of Central and South America, specifically to the areas of present-day Venezuela, Colombia, and Ecuador. The indigenous peoples of these areas were the first to discover and use cocoa, and it has been cultivated for thousands of years by various indigenous cultures, such as the Mayans and Aztecs. Then, cocoa arrived in Europe in 1521, and was consumed as a luxury drink in royalty. Over time, it spread to other parts of the world, including Africa and Asia. Today, countries such as the Ivory Coast, Ghana, and Indonesia are the main producers of this food worldwide. We are here in the cocoa cultivation area. Let's see which tree has the best mazorcas. These are very beautiful. Look, Juan Jose, Ricardo. Yes, those cocoa mazorcas are very beautiful. Keep going, guys. Well, these are the plants that we are going to harvest, the mazorcas that we are going to harvest. They are the mazorcas that are very yellow. As you can see, it is a plant that is loaded with mazorcas. We only harvest these that are yellow. Why should we harvest the mazorcas that are yellow? Because that gives us quality in fermentation, it gives us quality in drying, and it gives us excellent quality when we are transforming the cocoa into quality of aroma, flavor, and you can notice all the fruity aromas, the almonds that the cocoa mazorca has. We are in the drying area, after coming from the harvest for the fermentation process. This is the most important step, or like the cocoa trap, to obtain an excellent quality grain. The grain, after pulping it, we bring it to some wooden boxes, which are the fermenter, and it has three compartments. It ferments in an aerobic and an anaerobic way. From that process, we bring it to these boxes, but these boxes, when it starts drying, we have to take into account that the cocoa, in the first four days, cannot exceed 60 degrees Celsius. This is a process of about 8 or 10 days. Then we bring the humidity meter, and we do the test. The cocoa must be below 7 degrees of humidity. It goes to the transformation area. The first thing we do is to be aware that the cocoa humidity is suitable for the toast, which must be more or less 6.8 to 7 degrees. Once the temperature has been measured, we have to choose the grain. Because there are large and small grains, we have to select them, and the one that always comes to toast here is the premium. We turn on the machine, which has a temperature of about 80 or 90 degrees, and then we add a scoop of cocoa. Depending on the cocoa humidity, it takes about 50 to 60 minutes, an hour or an hour and a half. Once it is ready, we take it out, we wait for it to be a little cold, and it is ready to be brought here to the other machine, which is the peeler. What the machine does is to split the chocolate, to split the pepper, to separate the peels from the cocoa, so that there are small nits, and also with the fan, it takes the peels apart. However, we have to pass it here in this machine, up to two times, and yet there is a lot of peels left. So what we do is take it out of the container, we take it to a tray, and manually we are separating the peels so that the nits are completely clean. Here we also have to take into account that here all the errors begin to stand out. We have errors in the cultivation, in the harvest, in the production, and in the post-harvest, in the fermentation and drying, because when we are here in the plant, the flavors and smells of the different cocoa materials That is why it is so important from the cultivation, from the farms, the quality of the grain, because we are also going to have a very good raw material to make excellent products. So it is fundamental in the harvest and post-harvest that it is done very well so that here in the plant, in the transformation part, all those aromas and all the quality of the grain stand out. So we start with peeling where this machine separates the cocoa nibs in different sizes since we use it for different types of trade, where they ask us for a thinner nib or a thicker one, or different ones to also extract the cocoa butter or other by-products. In addition to being the basis for the production of chocolate, cocoa is appreciated for its flavor and is also considered a food with nutritional and beneficial properties. It is a good source of antioxidants, minerals such as magnesium and iron, and contains some compounds that are believed to have positive effects on health. It is important to bear in mind that to obtain the benefits of cocoa, it is preferable to consume dark chocolate with a high content of cocoa of more than 70% and low sugar content and added fats. Well, the importance of consuming cocoa is first for health. It has an infinity of properties, rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, it is good for stress, it is essential for health. So we invite you to consume cocoa because it is a natural product that provides many conditions for our health and it is very tasty. A good chocolate is a delight. And today, thank God, we can already find some very good chocolates in the country for the public. I mean, we can find them very easily in many stores, in supermarkets. All the things that come out, I mean, the products, be healthy, be healthy, take care of the waters, take care of the animals. Cocoa is a plant that protects the soil too. We have considered all the research, we have realized that it is one of the best foods that exist on the face of the earth as a food to nourish people in every way. Well, after the process of peeling, after giving it several passes so that it remains as clean as possible, we proceed to enter the production area. Well, at this moment, here comes the production process and here we have a place where we have it to store it. After we do all this process, we weigh it again and take it to the refining machine. So, we had already started a production process, so we can't throw the needles at the machine right now, but I'm going to start the machine so you can see how it works. Well, the machine is starting the refining process. We are waiting for it to finish, for it to finish at 36 hours to be able to empty it. We are going to move to an area where we are going to do a refining from the beginning in a smaller machine. The refining process takes more or less three days, so that the chocolate takes the adequate microns, the microns of the chocolate so that it feels soft in the mouth. It goes from 18 to 20 microns. So, we start this process and after three days we are going to get this quality in the chocolate. It has all the antioxidant. We can take it, people who use cholesterol or people who use alcohol. It even helps a lot with health. It has iron and vitamins and it helps all the love that we put in the transformation so that the chocolate has a very good flavor. Cocoa is also used to make products such as cocoa powder, for hot drinks, pastry products such as cakes, cookies, brownies, muffins and other desserts, ice creams and sorbets, sauces for meat in combination with spices and chilies. Cocoa and its derivatives, such as chocolate, have been appreciated by a diversity of regions by obtaining a deep impact in gastronomy and captivating people from different cultures and culinary tastes. Our purpose as entrepreneurs around cocoa is to transmit through a food, a product or a food like chocolate that happiness that we have as a family. It is also an example for other peasants or other entrepreneurs who are wanting to promote a product, a food or a business, whatever it is. I feel proud of my family because in a way they have been where I reflect, guide myself. It is not a company that pollutes. We try as much as possible to take care of the environment and that also characterizes us here. We are going to show you how we transform this delicious chocolate into a family. From the mountains of Corregimiento de San Luis, Municipality of Neiva, Department of Udila, Colombia. I'm going to make this chocolate because they are waiting for me. This chocolate is super delicious. I love it because my grandmother taught me to drink chocolate very naturally, without chemicals, without contamination. To make this chocolate we have to let the water boil because the water was already boiling. So we add the chocolate and we beat it. The success of chocolate is to beat it. If you don't beat the chocolate, there is no chocolate. So we beat it, beat it and here we consume it without sugar because chocolate gives us joy, it gives us love. So chocolate can't be missing for breakfast and also for dinner. But let's drink it with bread because these people are going to work so the chocolate is ready. As the water is boiling, if you don't beat it, beat it. And if people are lazy, put it in the blender and that's it. But I do like the old fashion so beat, beat, beat the chocolate. So our chocolate is ready. Oh my God, this is hot. The molinillo is made of stick and chocolate. You take the stick and the board and you make the molinillo. It's better when you make the biscochuelos. We also have a molinillo when we make the biscochuelos to accompany the chocolate. Let's serve it. This is for Javier. For my beautiful children. Happy mother with her two children here in the house. I'm going to take the chocolate to those boys. Chocolate. And that's it. Let's take the chocolate. Well, in the future we see cocoa very promising because worldwide the consumption of cocoa has increased considerably. So that allows us a very good demand and by having demand we can generate very good prices for our cocoa farmers which in the end that's the idea that cocoa farmers have good quality of grain and also a better price to improve the quality of life of everyone. But the future in cocoa is very promising. We see it, the panorama is very open. Fortunately, consumption has increased and the crop has liked it a lot and the great variety and derivatives that this product can generate. Its versatility and distinctive flavor make it an appreciated ingredient and loved by tables and everyone.