“The seven-year-old cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) that I’m inspecting in this photo is part of the Model Cocoa Orchard established by the University of the West Indies’ Cocoa Research Centre (CRC), where I work as a food-technology reearcher. My colleagues and I use this 1,500-tree orchard in Valsayn, a town in the north of the island of Trinidad, to better understand cocoa production.
My research focuses on the fermentation of cacao beans, a process that is carried out mainly at a small scale on local farms. Cacao trees produce fruit pods, which are harvested and broken open to release the pulp-covered beans. I’m holding one here. The acidity, sweetness and floral flavour vary from pod to pod. It’s the pulp that acts as the fuel for the microorganisms that drive the beans’ fermentation.
The chemical changes that occur over about a week remove the beans’ bitterness and turn them red-brown, but only after roasting do they gain their chocolate flavour. The success of the fermentation process is dependent on climate. And with weather patterns becoming less predictable, the quality of the beans has started to decline. We have started to experiment with manipulating sucrose and water levels at the start of fermentation, and we are also using other techniques to tweak the process.
