The Stuff of Cocoa Part 2 – Fermentation, drying, composting…and leaving our mark!

Another fantastic day at the Mars Centre for Cocoa Science (MCCS), all thanks to the resident MCCS team! Whilst, I have only been at the MCCS for 2 days, I already feel my understanding and appreciation of cocoa is light years away from a week ago. Today we learned all about and practiced the fermentation, drying and composting process' and also had the chance to leave our permanent mark at the MCCS :-)

The MAP Ambassadors Group with Sam & Wildson the MCCS cocoa experts

Fermentation. Following on from yesterday’s harvesting we put the cocoa beans to ferment in wooden square vats. These are left in these vats for a total of 5 days throughout which they are turned around and mixed to allow oxygen to mix with the beans and facilitate the fermentation process. I learned that the fermentation process is of utmost importance as it is only thanks this process which allows the beautiful cocoa notes to come through to our finished chocolate product.

 

Drying. Once the beans have been fermented they need to be dried for 5-7 days. At the MCCS these are spread out and dried on raised wooden platforms – which can be covered in case of rain (which is often all year round in Itabuna!). After 5-7 days the inside of the cocoa beans are black and start to have a chocolate-earthy taste.

 Joe and I carrying the fermented beans to dry

Ives & Rani emptying fermented beans on the drying floor

Composting. To help the plants grow quicker and also to prevent disease composting takes place. Think of compost as a super-earth which is made out of different plant matters found at the cocoa farm. Ours was made of grass, cocoa husks, Glysiride leaf, cabbage and manure. We stacked the different parts of the compost in layers in a pyramid shape after covering it with a banana leaf to help keep the rain away. After 60-90 days the compost will be only 40% of the weight and the compost will be ready for use on the cocoa farm (including using it for new seeds).

Our compost pyramid with Fadi the Egyptian architect!

Finally we went to visit the Barro Preto Project which has is being hosted on 11 different farms in Bahia. This project has the aim of increasing cocoa productivity and in so doing demonstrating to the farmers the potential and profitability of cocoa when done right – they are currently predominantly cattle farmers. As the balance between trees and cocoa plants per hectare is quite importance to maximixe cocoa productivity in an agroforestry system (land where both trees and cocoa trees are farmed), farmers often plot out the number of trees they have per hectare. Above 39 trees per hectare the farmers are allowed to cut some non-cocoa trees down to help their cocoa crop (more light of the cocoa plants). At the same time though agroforestry is useful in two ways: 1) It allows farmers to spread their risks (ie. due to fluctuating commodity prices) and 2) agroforestry is supported and incentivized by the local banks here.

Plotting & measuring the different trees on the farm

Group photo with Sam (left) and Wildson aka Mr Cacao due to his 34 years of experience in cacoa.

Finally – like all MAP groups to the MCCS – it was our turn to plant our cocoa plant also!! Each MAP Ambassador planted a cocoa plant and added a little name tag on it. In 1.5 years these small plants will be bearing fruits and co-operating to experiments at the MCCS.

Our very own cocoa plants - Tim 

Our very own cocoa plants - Ives

             Our very own cocoa plants - Me. May it long, healthy and productive life :-)

What a fantastic day it’s been and I am overjoyed that we too have contributed to the farm system at MCCS by planting a cocoa plant and continuing the Mars cocoa legacy.