Cacao-tree

Also called cocoa or cocoa-tree , the cacao-tree ( Theobroma cocoa ) is a small tree with persistent sheets of the kind Theobroma of the family of the Sterculiacées, according to the traditional Classification, or of the Malvacées, according to the phylogenetic classification. It presents cocoa broad beans to savors different according to the species from cacao-tree and makes it possible to produce Cacao the basic commodity of the Chocolat.

Description

The Cacaoyer is a tropical species Diploïde originating in South America. It pushes naturally in the basin of the Orénoque and the Amazonia at low altitude with the foot of the Andes cordillera on basic hills altitude (between 200 and 400 m).

It is a tree which measures from 3 to 12 meters in height, Cauliflore and with persistent sheets. It flowers as from 3 years and gives flowers, fruits and sheets throughout the year. It reaches full sound output between 7 and 10 years and lives up to 100 years. Its flowers measure approximately a centimetre and only 1% of them give fruits. The tree can produce annually to 20.000 flowers of pink and white color. They appear all the year on bulges of the wood of the tree, called floral bearings .

Its fruits, the “Dents S”, are lengthened grosses bay S resembling a small balloon of American football. Each dents can weigh up to 400 G for 15 to 20 cm length. They have the characteristic to grow bigger at the same time on the main branches but also directly on the tree trunk. Their characteristics are very variable of one population to the other but also within the same population. Dent immature of Forastero are generally green or pale green then become yellow with maturity. For Trinitario and Criollo, dent them immature have various intensities of red and, with maturity, orange. The maturation of the fruits lasts, according to the genotypes, from 5 to 7 months.

Dent contain many seeds (between 25 and 75) gathered out of ears and called broad beans of cocoa rich in Amidon, fat contents and Alcaloïde S. Each seed ripe is surrounded by a pulp called " mucilage". It white, aqueous and is sweetened and constitutes a protuberance of the tested, which conditions the Fermentation necessary to the production of the commercial cocoa. After fermentation and Torrefaction, these seeds are used for the manufacture of the Cacao and the Chocolat.

See also: Broad bean of cocoa

Varieties of cocoa

There exist several varieties of cacao-trees whose broad beans will be selected by the Chocolatier S for their variable gustatory qualities according to the variety and the place of production. For a long time, the origin of the cacao-trees were a enigma so much the cacao-trees seemed different within a species. Only genetic research made it possible to solve the problem and to differentiate the various varieties. The principal varieties of cacao-tree are:

The forasteros

(80 90% of the worldwide production):
  • Origin: Amazonia. Fruits with dents yellow and with almond crimson-violet.
  • most widespread and most rustic, its broad beans give an acid bitter taste and notes.
  • Cultivated in Western Africa, Brazil and Ecuador.

The criollos

(1 5% of the worldwide production)

The trinitarios

(10 20% of the worldwide production)
  • it is an hybrid of the crossing of the two precedents appeared at the 18th century on the island Trinité.
  • it combines the rusticity of the first and the fine but less intense flavors of the seconds.
  • Cultivated in Spanish-speaking America, Mexico, Central America, Trinidad, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, in Africa especially in Cameroun, Asia.

The Nacional

In Ecuador, a local type of forastero, Nacional, starts to be cultivated with large scales at the beginning of the XIXe century. Considered to compete in taste with a criollo.

Culture

Ecology of the cacao-tree

The plant is originating in the forests equatorial in a climate hot and wet without season dries very marked. The cacao-tree has raised enough ecological requirements which are the following ones:

  • the optimal annual average temperature is 25°C. The absolute minimum is of 10°C,

  • optimal annual pluviometry is of 1500 to 2500 mm and the optimal content water is of 85%. The dry periods should not exceed three months,
  • the young cacao-tree needs to be protected from a too intense illumination during the first three years. If the recourse to the inputs is not assured, it is generally preferable to proceed to the maintenance of a permanent shade intercepting between 20 and 40% of the radiation,
  • the ground must ensure a good retention of water but the roots should not be asphyxiated. The ground must be slightly acid and its content of organic matter raised in the higher horizon,
  • the cacao-tree can push up to 1000 m of altitude under the equator. With the latitude of 20° Northern or Southern, only the sea level is appropriate to him.

Practices of cultures

The current mode of culture is identical to that which the old Maya practiced. The culture proceeds under higher and resistant trees which named the mothers cocoa . It is about Légumineuse S protecting the cacao-trees and providing them Azote like food.

The cacao-tree multiplies by Semis. After opening of dents, the seeds must be sown very quickly because they have one very short germinative duration (1 to 2 weeks to the maximum). Rates of success of the Propagation by cutting and the grafting depend on the Génotype: Criollo are less suited to the vegetative Multiplication than Forastero. The harvest of the cocoa takes place twice a year, mainly in spring and the autumn.

Enemies of the cacao-tree

  • Moniliose of dent: “ Crinipellis roreri ” (in the past " Moniliophthora roreri ", incidence 90% (especially in America of the Center and the South)
  • " Disease of the brush of witch " : Crinipellis perniciosa , incidence 60% (especially in South America)
  • the brown Pourriture of dent: Phytophthora, incidence 30% (especially in Africa)
  • Conopomorpha cramerella
  • Oncobasidium theobromae

External bonds

  • Infos detailed on the cacao-tree
  • the cacao-tree on brg.prd.fr, the site of the Office of the genetic resources
  • With discovered cocoa - Guide of culture of the cacao-tree
  • GRIN 101885
  • ITIS 505487

Gallery

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