![]() ![]() ![]() If sweating is interrupted, the resulting cocoa may be ruined if underdone, the cocoa seed maintains a flavor similar to raw potatoes and becomes susceptible to mildew. Sweating is important for the quality of the beans, which originally have a strong bitter taste. The fermented pulp trickles away, leaving cocoa seeds behind to be collected. During this time, the seeds and pulp undergo "sweating", where the thick pulp liquefies as it ferments. The pulp and seeds are then piled in heaps, placed in bins, or laid out on grates for several days. The pulp and cocoa seeds are removed and the rind is discarded. The harvested pods are opened -typically with a machete- to expose the beans. It is estimated one person can harvest 650 pods per day. Care must be used when cutting the stem of the pod to avoid injuring the junction of the stem with the tree, as this is where future flowers and pods will emerge. The ripe and near-ripe pods, as judged by their color, are harvested from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree with a curved knife on a long pole. Harvesting occurs between 3–4 times to weekly during the harvest season. The pods on a tree do not ripen together harvesting needs to be done periodically through the year. This makes harvesting by hand easier as most of the pods will not be up in the higher branches. Unlike most fruiting trees, the cacao pod grows directly from the trunk or large branch of a tree rather than from the end of a branch. Immature cocoa pods have a variety of colors but most often are green, red, or purple, and as they mature their color tends towards yellow or orange, particularly in their creases. Pesticides are often applied to the trees to combat capsid bugs and fungicides to fight black pod disease. Usually it occurs over several months and in many countries cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year. Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one period per year. Some species of fungus, such as Aspergillus fumigatus, participate in the self-heating.Ĭocoa trees grow in hot, rainy tropical areas within 20° of latitude from the equator. 25☌, high relative humidity, lack of oxygen supply) and due to their high oil content, cocoa beans have a tendency to self-heating and postfermentation.America: Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Mexico.Asia: Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Java, Samoa, Philippines.Africa: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, other West African coastal countries.This table shows only a selection of the most important countries of origin and should not be thought of as exhaustive. ![]()
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