Karen Loomis, age 11, of Irvine, Calif., for her question:
WHAT ARE CHOCOLATE BEANS LIKE?
The chocolate tree is a native of Central America, and Columbus sent samples of its beans back to Spain. However, at the time, nobody back home was interested. Apparently Columbus neglected to include the recipe. And without this basic information, nobody dreamed it possible to make delicious chocolate from those bitter little beans.
The Mayans of Central America invented the original name for chocolate, which meant warm beverage. Their so called chocolate tree which produces the beans was named the cacao tree, meaning bitter juice. Much later, the people of Europe changed cacao to cocoa, perhaps through a typographical error.
The tree could pass as a handsome ornamental evergreen, 25 to 40 feet tall. Its large oval leave are green above and red below. Throughout the year, clusters of tiny flowers sprout from its trunk and branches. Meantime, older blossoms have faded and are developing fruiting pods, somewhat like red, yellow or green cucumbers. There are always ripe pods to be harvested.
Plantation trees are ready for harvesting after about 10 years and continue to bear worthwhile crops for another 70 years or so. Sharp knives and long poles are used to chop the stubby 12 inch pods from the trunks and branches. The pods have leathery rinds about half an inch thick. They are stuffed with sticky pink pulp, which has a rather sweet flavor.
About 30 to 50 beans are packed in the middle, arranged tightly in neat rows. They are about the size of small lima beans and shaped like almonds. Their color may be purple or pasty white, and they have a horribly bitter flavor. At this stage, the cacao beans in no way resemble delicious chocolate brown.
Before this miraculous transformation can occur, they must be processed partly at the plantation and partly at a chocolate making factory. The harvested pods are chopped open, the pulp and beans scooped out and piled up to ferment for a week or so. This makes it easier to remove the pulp and also starts chemical improvements in the beansRoasting removes moisture, and the beans turn brown. They now are ready to be sacked and sent to chocolate factories for further processing.
The little brown beans are crushed to removed their husks and rolled to squeeze out thick brown fluid called chocolate liquor. This is the basic ingredient for making 50 or so different chocolate products. However, sugar and vanilla and other ingredients must be added to change its bitterness into the delicious flavor of chocolate.