From Farmers to Consumers

From Farmers to Consumers
For the large majority of us, who are oblivious to the different stages of how cocoa is transformed into its finest, delicious chocolate form; here are the steps from farmer to consumer as the World Cocoa Foundation outlined:

1     1.  Growing cocoa requires the suitable climatic conditions. Trinidad is 11 degrees north of the Equator hence sustaining the right tropical environment for cocoa tree growth. Special Care and attention must be given to trees such as protection for heavy winds, scotching sun. It must be properly fertilize and monitored for diseases and illnesses.

    

Ripen Cocoa


      2.   Harvesting time can occur anytime, once the cocoa pods are ripened. Proper pruning practices are encouraged by farmers, and shorter trees to make harvesting easier. The pods are spilt open and the inner part is collected.


      3.  Fermenting and Drying - the beans are placed in a box and covered using banana leaves, the beans naturally ferment, which is an essential step in getting the natural flavour. The beans are then dried  in the Sun. 


    4.   Marketing - After the beans are dried and packed into sacks, the farmers take the sacks to a buying agent, who then transport it to an exporting company. In Trinidad, the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board of Trinidad and Tobago  (CCIBTT) performs this function. They inspect the quality of the beans and places it in burlap, sisal or plastic bags which are carried to a warehouse for exportation.

                                                                Burlap Sack



5. Packaging and Transporting - the exporting company finalizes the time and lace for shipment and the beans are loaded onto ships. Once the ships reaches its destination, the cocoa is removed from holding and taken into a pier warehouse. The buyer will conduct quality checks to accept delivery and cocoa is usually store until requested by the processor or manufacturer.


      6. Roasting and Grinding - the beans are thoroughly insoected and cleaned. The inside of the cocoa called the nib. Depending on preferences, the beans can be roasted with the shell intact, or the nib can be roasted alone.  The nib is then ground into a paste. The heat generated from this process causes the cocoa butter to melt and creates "cocoa liquor."

                                                                 Cocoa Nib

 7.  Pressing - The cocoa liquor is fed into the hydraulic presses that divide liquor into cocoa butter and cocoa cakes. The cakes can be sold into the generic cocoa cake market, or ground into fine powder.

      8. Making Chocolate - Yum... now the exciting part, making chocolate! The liquor is mixed with cocoa butter, sugar and in some cases, milk. The mixture is then placed into conches - large agitators that stir abd smooth the mixture under heat. The longer chocolate is conched, the smoother it will be.

    9. Consumer - Today, people all around the world enjoy chocolate in thousands of different forms, consuming more than 3,000,000 tons of cocoa beans annually.

    >>>For more information, please visit the WCF @ http://worldcocoafoundation.org/about-cocoa/cocoa-value-chain


     >>> And contact the Cocoa and Coffee Industry Board of T&T for further information on the grade of our cocoa and its delectable nature: http://www.agriculture.gov.tt/divisions-and-units/state-boards/the-cocoa-and-coffee-industry-board-of-trinidad-and-tobago.html