Cacao

as a drink, is different from coffee or tea since it is consumed not in the form of an aqueous extract, i. e. a clear brew, but as a suspension. In addition to stimulating alkaloids, particularly theobromine, cacao products contain substantial amounts of nutrients fats, carbohydrates and proteins. Unlike coffee and tea, cocoa has to be consumed in large amounts in order to experience a stimulating effect. 

Cacao beans were known in Mexico and Central America for more than a thousand years before America was discovered by Columbus. They were enjoyed originally in the form of a slurry of roasted cocoa beans and com which was seasoned with paprika, vanilla or cinnamon. In the first half of the 17th century, cacao beans were introduced into Germany. Cocoa became popular in the Old World only after sugar was added to the chocolate preparation. Initially, cocoa was treated as a luxury item, until the 19th century, when production of pulverized chocolate and defatted cocoa was established and they were distributed extensively as a food commodity. 

The world production of cacao was 31,0001 in 1870/80, 103,0001 in 1900 and 1,585,0001 in 1979. The production in 2006 and the main ca-caoproducing countries are listed in Table 21.20. The processing of cacao beans into cocoa powder and chocolate is presented schematically in Fig. 21.4. 

Continent Cacao beans Country Cacao beans 

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C7H9N402- M.p. 337 C, an alkaloid obtained from cacao seeds or prepared synthetically. Constitutionally it is similar to caffeine, and is also a weak base. It is usually administered as the sodium compound combined with either sodium ethanoate or sodium salicylate, and is employed almost entirely as a diuretic. Physiologically theobromine resembles caffeine, but its effect on the central nervous system is less, while its action on the kidneys, is more pronounced. 

Two other commonly found sources of caffeine (16) are kola Cold) from the seeds of, for example. Cola nitida (Vent.) Schott and Engl., which contains 1—4% of the alkaloid, but Httie theophylline or theobromine, and cocoa (from the seeds of Theobroma cacao L.), which generally contains about 3% theobromine and significantiy less caffeine. 

For many years oral xanthines, shown in Table 2, were the preferred first-line treatment for asthma in the United States, and if the aerosol and oral formulations of P2" go sts are considered separately, as they are in Table 1, this was still the case in 1989. Within this class of compounds theophylline (8), or one of its various salt forms, such as aminophylline [317-34-0] (theophylline ethylenediamine 2 l), have been the predominant agents. Theophylline, 1,3-dimethylxanthine [58-55-9], is but one member of a class of naturally occurring alkaloids. Two more common alkaloids are theobromine (9), isomeric with theophylline and the principal alkaloid in cacao beans, and caffeine, (10), 1,3,7-Trimethylxanthine [58-08-2], found in coffee and tea. 

The name Theobroma cacao, food of the gods, indicating both the legendary origin and the nourishing quaUties of chocolate, was bestowed upon the cacao tree by Linnaeus in 1720. All cocoa and chocolate products are derived from the cocoa bean, the seed of the fmit of this tree. Davila Garibi, a contemporary Mexican scholar, has traced the derivation of the word from basic root words of the Mayan language to its adoption as chocolate in Spanish ( ) ... 

The terms cocoa and cacao often are used interchangeably in the Hterature. Both terms describe various products from harvest through processing. In this article, the term cocoa will be used to describe products in general and the term cacao will be reserved for botanical contexts. Cocoa traders and brokers frequendy use the term raw cocoa to distinguish unroasted cocoa beans from finished products this term is used to report statistics for cocoa bean production and consumption. 

White Chocolate. There is at present no standard of identity in the United States for white chocolate. Virtually all current uses of the term white chocolate do not meet the standards for chocolate, which prescribes the presence of ground cacao nibs. This restrictive requirement has acted as a practical deterrent to companies developing and marketing white chocolate-type products in the United States. When such products have been introduced and marketed in the United States, companies have had to label them with fanciful names to avoid the standardized labeling issues. In other countries where a standard of identity for white chocolate exists and where a minimum amount of cocoa butter is required by law, consumers have available to them a variety of easily recognizable products. 

The FDA has not legally defined cocoa butter, and no standard exists for this product under the U.S. Chocolate Standards. For the purpose of enforcement, the FDA defines cocoa butter as the edible fat obtained from cocoa beans either before or after roasting. Cocoa butter as defined in the US. Pharmacopeia is the fat obtained from the roasted seed of Theohroma cacao Uinne. 

W. T. Clarke, The Eiterature of Cacao American Chemical Society, Washington, D.C., 1954. 

Grus, m, tk n. small fragments, smalls, fines specif., small coal, slack breeze fine gravel debris, -boden, m. soil from rock debris, -kakao, m. cacao hiisks. -kohle, /. small coal, slack, -koks, m. coke fines, coke breeze. 

Kakao, m. cacao cocoa, -baum, m. cacao, cacao tree, -bohne, /. cacao bean, cocoa bean, -butter, /. cacao butter, cocoa butter, -masse,/, cocoa i aste. -ol, n. cocoa (cacao) oil or butter, -pulver, n. cocoa powder. 

Pour the espresso into a chilled martini glass. Top with foam. Combine the liquor, creme de cacao and skim milk in cocktail shaker. Add ice and shake well. Strain the ingredients into a glass, pouring at the edge so as not to disturb the foam. Dust with nutmeg. 

While caffeine biosynthesis in coffee and tea has been reasonably well investigated, little information is available about the biosynthetic pathways of methylxanthines in cacao. Published studies34 35 have established the presence of 7-methylxanthine and adenine in cocoa. Since both coffee and tea exhibit similar pathways where theobromine is a direct precursor for caffeine, it is reasonable to assume that a similar mechanism is possible in cacao. 

Guyot, B., Lahmy, S., Vincent, J. C., Determination of 3,4-benzpyrene in roasted coffee and its roasting by-products, Cafe Cacao The, 26, 199, 1982. (CA98 33161e)... 

Kohiyama, M., Kanematsu, H., Niiya, I., Heavy metals particularly nickel, contained in cacao beans and chocolate, Nippon Shokuhin Kogyo Gakkaishi, 39(7), 596, 1992. (CA118 146452a)... 

Motoda, T., Color improvement of cacao and coffee beans with polyphenoloxidase, Jpn. Kokai Tokkyo Koho 79,143,561, 1979. (CA92 109427v)... 

The second major technical development occurred in 1876, when milk chocolate was invented in Switzerland by M. D. Peter. This process provided a new stimulus to the cacao trade. Milk chocolate powder and cocoa butter were later combined to make an eating chocolate that formed the backbone of the chocolate industry today. 

General information on the botany and husbandry of cacao is documented in several references.5 7 For the purposes of this text, material on these topics has been limited to a brief overview. 

The cacao tree is a "cauliflorous" plant in that the flowers grow on the old wood of the trunk and main branches. Trees may produce 10,000 or more flowers in a year however, only 10 to 50 eventually develop into ripe pods 4 to 6 months later. Two standard crops are harvested each year although fruits in various stages of development may be continually on the tree. Cacao trees begin to bear significant amounts of fruit when they are 4 to 8 years old, and continue to do so for 50 years or more. 

T. cacao is cultivated at low altitudes within 1000 ft of sea level. Cacao grows exclusively between the latitudes 20°N and 20°S with 75% of the world s crop grown within 8° of the equator. Cacao requires a warm and humid climate and thrives best at shade temperatures of 65° to 95°F, although the tree has flourished under conditions of 105°F and almost 100% humidity found in areas of West Africa. Minimum rainfall requirements are an evenly distributed 40 in. per year with 60 to 80 in. desirable. 

After the ripe pods are harvested, they are cut open and the beans and adhering pulp are removed for fermentation. It is during the process of fermentation that cacao acquires much of its characteristic flavor and aroma. Fermentation soon occurs due to the high sugar content of the pulp and the presence of microorganisms. The sugars are converted to alcohols and finally to acetic acid, which drains off. The acetic acid and heat formed... 

Composition of Unfermented and Fermented Cacao Beans (Percent by Weight)... 

In 1895, the worldwide production of raw cocoa or unroasted cocoa beans was about 75,000 metric tons. One hundred years later, raw cocoa production has increased almost 40-fold to the forecasted 1995-1996 production of 2,760,000 metric tons (Table 2).15 The majority of today s world cocoa supply comes from Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, and the Republic of Cameroon even though cacao is not indigenous to east Africa. Although Africa historically has been and still is the largest producer of the world s cocoa supply, the relative quantities produced within African countries... 

Although low levels of methylxanthines have been detected in the leaves and flowers of T. cacao, the primary storage location is within the seed or bean.16 The cocoa bean is the major natural source of the methylxanthine theobromine, but contains only small amounts of caffeine. Theophylline has been detected in cacao beans, but at such low concentrations that its presence generally is ignored. Together, theobromine and caffeine account for up to 99% of the alkaloid content of T. cacao beans. Alkaloid content is affected by genetic makeup, maturity of beans at harvest, and fermentation process. Analytical methodology also is partially responsible for some of the disparity in methylxanthine values since many early methods were unable to separate theobromine and caffeine. 

In live cocoa seeds, the methylxanthines are localized in polyphenolic storage cells. Bean death, which occurs 24 to 48 h after initiation of fermentation, triggers diffusion of the methylxanthines from the nib to the shell. The early studies of Humphries state that cacao cotyledons lose about 40% of their theobromine during fermentation.17 According to Knapp and Wadsworth, the loss of theobromine and caffeine becomes significant on the third day when the methylxanthines begin to diffuse into the shell.18 This migration continues until the concentration of the methylxanthines in nibs and shell are almost equal. 

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