🍃Sustainability Experiences: Cocoa Nut

Hi 🖐,

Ever since I was a child, I loved chocolate! Cocoa, the main ingredient of chocolate, is one of the best superfoods in the world but it is also a crop with serious sustainability issues like child labor and deforestation. Earlier this year, I had a chance to visit the mythical town of Chuao, Venezuela, where some say the best cocoa in the world comes from. I will take you on a journey on what sustainable practices for this crop can look like and what it takes to process the cocoa seed to make chocolate 🍫.

 Its Origin and Benefits

Cocoa is believed to have originated in the Amazon rainforest and domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Since then, this seed has been called food for the Gods and has become worldwide popular through chocolate. Despite of its chocolate reputation as a sweet, cocoa has powerful natural compounds to keep you healthy: it is a top5 source of antioxidants and it contains flavanols, which provide cardiovascular support, magnesium, anandamide, the "bliss molecule", and phenylethylamine, "the love molecule", among others.

Sustainability Concerns

The demand for chocolate has created some challenges. 80% of the cocoa produced in the world comes from Africa, however, the continent’s cocoa production has serious issues with child labor and deforestation as shown in the documentary “The Dark Side Of Chocolate”. Companies producing the main branded chocolate bars in the market use this tainted African cocoa 😳. Even efforts to pay living wages to farmers have so far floundered. 

So what does sustainable production of the crop look like and how do you process it to be ready for chocolate? Well, rather than just writing about it, I am going to let the video from my visit to Chuao do a lot of the talking. This article is not meant to be comprehensive about all sustainable practices, but should give you a good idea of what it takes!

Getting There, The Town & the Farm

Although it is relatively close to Venezuela’s capital, getting to the town of Chuao is no small task. You have to first get to the town of Puerto Colombia, in the Venezuelan Caribbean, a three-hour drive from Caracas. Then, you have to take a boat to Chuao since there is no road to get there. 

Talking about the town of Chuao and the Chuao farm where they have the cacao trees is almost interchangeable as the town life and the farm activities are inextricably linked. There is an idyllic feeling as you drive through the farm: giant trees that give the necessary shade to the cocoa trees dominate the views and the cocoa trees and their beautiful fruit line up the road.  

The Cocoa Tree and Environment Needs

Similar to coffee, there are different varieties of cocoa. The three main ones are: Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario. Of these three, Criollo is the most valued but also the most delicate of the varieties. The abundance of this variety in Venezuela is one of the reasons why Venezuelan cocoa is world-renowned. 

The cacao tree requires some shade and plenty of water. Chuao is the perfect place as the mountains and forest of the surrounding Henri Pittier national park supply a constant flow of water which is routed by the farmers into the farm. This creates an important dependency of Chuao with the national park and has helped ensure the protection of the forest and avoiding deforestation.

Growing and Harvesting the Fruit

One peculiarity of cocoa trees is that the cocoa flowers come out of the cocoa tree trunk and, therefore, when the flowers are pollinated, the fruits are also attached to the trunk. Depending on the variety, mature cacao fruits can range from greyish-white to yellow, orange or burgundy. The ripe fruits are cut from the tree and cut open with a machete to extract the pulp and seeds. The cocoa pulp is very tangy but actually delicious!

Two important sustainability practices about Chuao’s cocoa production is that they only use organic fertilizers and do not use chemical pesticides. Also, a huge part of the Chuao culture is that women have a fundamental role in the growing and harvesting of the cocoa. Many of the men in town focus on fishing, so women take a leadership role in cocoa production.

Fermentation, Drying and Sorting

The cocoa beans are placed in large wood containers and covered with banana leaves to promote fermentation. This process can take anywhere from a few days to a week. It helps break down the complex sugars and proteins in the cocoa beans, producing a range of compounds that give chocolate its characteristic flavor, aroma, and color. Fermentation also helps to reduce the bitterness of the cocoa beans by breaking down the tannins and other bitter compounds.

After fermentation, the beans are spread out to dry in the sun in a drying yard. This can take several days, and the beans must be turned regularly to ensure even drying. 

In most Venezuelan town, a Bolivar square is the center of the town surrounded by government buildings and the town’s church. In Chuao, the drying yard is the center of the town around which the town life revolves.

After drying, a sorting machine allows for separation of the seeds based on size. Larger seeds are exported and smaller seeds are used for the local market.

The Chuao farm was deeded by the Venezuelan government to the traditional farmers of the valley through a collectively owned Associaton “La Empresa Campesina de Chuao” (the Farmers’ Company of Chuao). The Association establishes high sales prices and all income from cacao is shared amongst the members, or re-invested in the community life. This is quite a unique model and helps avoid worker exploitation issues seen in other global cocoa farm locations.

Making Chocolate

After chocolate manufacturers buy the dry beans from farmers such as those in Chuao, they apply a number of steps to turn them into chocolate. First, the seeds are roasted to bring out the chocolate flavor. This process also helps to remove any remaining moisture, to separate the shell from the nib and to sanitize the seeds.

The roasted nibs are ground into a paste called chocolate liquor, which is the basis for all chocolate products.  Depending on the type of chocolate that is being manufactured (100% cocoa chocolate would be 100% chocolate liquor cocoa), the chocolate liquor is then mixed with additional cocoa butter and other ingredients like sugar and milk, and then conched, or mixed continuously at high temperatures and speeds for several hours. This process helps to develop the smooth, creamy texture and flavor of chocolate. The final step in cocoa processing is tempering, which involves heating and cooling the chocolate to specific temperatures to create the ideal texture and shine.

Goodbye to Chuao

Chuao is indeed a magical town: it exceeded all my expectations. I hope this virtual visit gave you an understanding of some of the practices that make cocoa production sustainable. 

And next time you take a bite out of a chocolate bar, you should have a greater appreciation of the cocoa seeds that go into it

Enjoy and reflect 💭. Warm regards / saludos,

Julio