About five years ago a cocoa farmer in the mountains handed me a ripe pod from one of his trees. The lumpy brown football was about as far from being a bar of chocolate as a ripe red coffee berry is from being a cup of mocha at a Starbucks outlet. Intrigued, I took the pod home and planted the beans; obligingly all of them quickly germinated into robust seedlings. I planted half a dozen around the still-wild garden and gave the rest away. As the years went by, the jungle grew back around them and I forgot about my nascent cocoa plantation. Then a few months ago I realized that the rampant 3 metre trees among the heliconia were, in fact, cocoa plants. Tiny, star-like flowers studded the stems and larger branches and here and there a fetal cocoa pod was forming. I fertilized and pruned them and, ever the optimist, began to plan my chocolate factory.
Chocolate has entranced and delighted the human race for about 3,000 years. The Olmec and Mayan called it the Food of the Gods. The Mayans crushed cocoa beans and mixed them with warm water, vanilla and chili in a drink they called Xocolatl; Montezuma was said to drink many cups of this concoction a day. Sixteenth century Spanish records tell us that the Mayans used cocoa beans as currency –- ten would buy a rabbit and 50, a mule. The Spanish took the beans back to Europe, where only royalty could afford the exotic brew at first. In 1828, someone figured out how to separate cocoa butter from the beans -– not an easy feat. Fifty years later the Swiss had perfected the production of solid and milk chocolate, bless them, and the rest is history.
The cocoa tree is persnickety, growing only within 20 degrees of the equator and demanding a warm, humid climate and shelter from direct sunlight and wind. When established, shade-grown trees will grow to 15 metres and bear fruit for up to 100 years. There are three varieties of cocoa and, like its distant relative coffee, each tree yields just a small harvest. Only about 5% of the delicate little flowers will eventually develop into fruit, producing between 0.5 kg and 2.5 kg of beans a year per tree. Almost 90% of the world’s cocoa is hand cultivated and picked by 2.5 million farmers on small family farms of under 5 hectares. After harvesting, the pods are split open and the beans are fermented, then roasted and ground into a liquid called chocolate liquor. The cocoa butter, which makes up about half the content of the cocoa bean, is pressed out and the residue is cocoa powder.
Cocoa butter is one of Nature’s most delightful gifts to the human skin. The ultimate moisturizer, it has a velvety texture and sweet, subtle fragrance. Many high-end skin products incorporate it, but nothing beats buying a block of freshly made organic cocoa butter from Ibu Lilir at the Saturday Farmers Market in Ubud to take home and rub right into a grateful epidermis.
The pale, aromatic edible oil is the most stable fat known, containing natural antioxidants that prevent it from becoming rancid; cocoa butter will keep at room temperature for between two and five years, even in Bali. Of course, cocoa butter is what gives chocolate is magical, melt-in-the mouth texture. It’s been use as a remedy for scarring for hundreds of years, and when used as a massage oil is said to help alleviate stress and boost the immune system. It certainly smells and feels delicious enough to boost just about anything.
In the interests of science I melted some cocoa butter in a glass bowl in a pot of simmering water, added pure cocoa powder and a little icing sugar, stirred for a bit and put it in the fridge. It wasn’t about to put Godiva out of business but it was chocolate, all right.
After decades of being warned that chocolate would give you everything from acne to a stroke, medical researchers are finally looking on the sweet side of things. While it would be a bit of a stretch to declare chocolate as a health supplement, it turns out to be the third largest dietary source of antioxidants -– about eight times higher than strawberries. A study by the American Society for Clinical Nutrition concluded that a diet high in cocoa powder and dark chocolate ‘may favourably affect cardiovascular disease risk by modestly reducing LDL oxidation susceptibility, increasing serum total antioxidant capacity and HDL cholesterol concentrations and not adversely affecting prostaglandins.’ Another study concluded that regular consumption of cocoa lowered blood pressure and seemed to protect against heart attack in male study participants.
Dark chocolate is now recognized as having properties which lower blood pressure and cholesterol, enhance blood flow, improve cognitive performance and stimulate the secretion of endorphins. It contains serotonin, an antidepressant (you can’t help noticing how it cheers people up). There are also rumours that certain kinds of dark chocolate could put Viagra out of business. If anyone out there has done any clinical research on that particular issue, I’m sure some of our readers would take a strictly scientific interest.
Limited amounts of homemade organic cocoa butter and powder are available from Ibu Lilir in Ubud. To order, call 081 2381 6024 or 081 2381 6020.
