FOLK HERBALIST'S JOURNAL

Chocolate, Cacao & A Special Guest Post

Cacao Pods (Theobroma cacao)

October seemed like a perfect time to take a closer look at America’s favorite candy: Chocolate. I have several pages dedicated to Cacao in my herb journals and many more pages of recipes in my kitchen journal highlighting the wonderfully delicious treat. But as with so many things, the closer I looked the more there was to learn about this ubiquitous, seemingly innocent staple.

In recent years, I’ve tried to buy local as much as possible, whether it is buying from local farms and farmer’s markets or supporting local artisans and crafters. However, there are some pantry staples that fall into the exotics category, such as coffee, tea, and chocolate. I’m not ready to give those items up but it takes a little more effort to find out how and where those crops are grown. As a consumer, though, I feel like it’s my responsibility to do my best to support those farmers and businesses who are treating both their workers and the Earth in a sustainable way.  

As luck would have it, I crossed paths with writer Sue Kusch on yet another writer’s Substack page (Susan Wittig Albert’s Growing Green With the Zodiac) and a fascinating discussion began about ecological justice, slave labor, and, yes, chocolate. It turned out that Sue had already written an article about the topic and kindly allowed me to read it. And that was the beginning of the idea to have a guest post, something new to both of us.

I’m including two of my herb journal pages and hope you’ll try the recipes, with some delicious Fair Trade, organic cocoa powder and chocolate. While you enjoy your healthy, delicious treats, read Sue Kusch’s article about the history and present day status of Cacao.

Yep, I should have written Cacao instead of Cocoa, but I’m not the first one to make that mistake! Note that you can use other more local herbs, like Roasted Dandelion root for example, in place of Ashwagandha, in the Chocolate Chai Balls recipe.

Cacao: Food of the Gods 

by Sue Kusch

I don’t remember the first time I tasted chocolate, but I have fond memories of chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and hot cocoa from my childhood. I enjoy far fewer cookies and brownies now but have become an aficionado of hot chocolate, adding spices and herbs to create unusual flavors - some good, some not so good. Over the years, I have researched cacao's history, production, culinary and medicinal uses, and its manufactured product, chocolate. Let’s start with some remarkable statistics:

·        Each year, Americans consume almost 3 billion pounds of chocolate.

·        Switzerland earns almost 20 pounds per person as the top chocolate consumer.

·        One pound of chocolate requires 400 cacao beans.

·        The global chocolate industry grosses over 100 billion dollars each year.

·        Most cacao farmers earn less than $1 daily, while manufacturers and retailers retain 80% of profits.

·        The rising global demand for chocolate has led to an expansion of cacao farms, which has resulted in the deforestation of as much as 80% of tropical forests along the African equator belt.

·        Despite a 20-year-old international agreement among the biggest chocolate manufacturers to eliminate child and slave labor on cacao farms, the exploitation of child labor has increased in some countries by as much as 49%.

 Cacao Tree with fruits

A member of the Malvaceae family, which includes hollyhocks, hibiscus, okra, and mallows, cacao’s binomial name is Theobroma cacao, ‘theo’ meaning ‘god’ and broma meaning ‘food’. Cacao is believed to be the Spanish pronunciation of the ancient Indigenous word ‘kakaw.’ The word cocoa, used interchangeably with cacao by English speakers, is thought to have been created by a spelling error.

Cacao plants are small (15-25 feet), broadleaf evergreen trees that grow in the understory of tropical rainforests. They have large, oblong, leathery leaves. Their flowers are borne on short stalks directly from the trunk - a unique arrangement that eventually produces foot-long pods (fruits). These football-looking fruits are green when immature and ripen through a rainbow of changing colors: white, yellow, orange, and reddish-purple. The cacao pod holds twenty to forty reddish-brown cacao beans (i.e., fruit seeds) encased in a white mucilaginous pulp.

A split cacao pod containing white pulp and cacao beans.

Cacao’s Origin & Biology

Recent archeological evidence indicates that wild cacao seeds were foraged over 5000 years ago. Cultivation likely began 3000 years ago by the Indigenous people of Central America: the Olmecs and, later, the Mayans and Aztecs. It then spread via human domestication to what is now known as southeastern Mexico. Like other cultivated tropical plants (e.g., vanilla and coffee), cacao thrives best when grown in a geographical band extending 20 degrees above and below the equator.

The trees begin to bear fruit at five years old, and despite producing thousands of flowers, each tree produces twenty to thirty pods per year. Researchers have calculated that only 10% of the cacao flowers are pollinated. Pollination is complicated by the compact and intricate design of the small flowers’ reproductive parts, including hoods on the male anthers and a cage-like structure surrounding the female ovules. The cacao flower depends on tiny insects (2-3mm) to access their reproductive systems. As if that weren’t challenging enough, each tree requires pollen from a different tree, so the insects must be able to travel to a nearby tree. Botanists have yet to identify specific pollinators for cacao, though it is likely that tiny flies and gall midges are two species that actually do the work of pollination. Bees and gnats have been observed “stealing” pollen but are not believed to follow through with pollination activities.

A 2010 study suggests that human manual pollination could double the cacao pod yield. However, most research focuses on identifying natural pollinators and reproducing their natural reproductive habitat, including leaf litter, bromeliads, decaying cacao pods, and rotting banana plants. Observational studies appear to confirm this, as small farms that are cleaned of other plants and their debris have some of the lowest cacao pod yields.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) flowers

The chocolate industry uses three primary cultivars: Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario. Each cultivar offers differing levels of bitterness, aroma, and disease resistance. The Criollo is considered the finest bean for taste and smell but is used in only 10% of chocolate products because it’s expensive. The Forastero is used in 80% of chocolate products and is the hardiest of the three cultivars.

Cacao Beans

Historical Cultivation and Commerce

Cultivation of the cacao tree began with the pre-Mayan Olmec culture, and the ancient Mayans expanded production as the cacao bean garnered more importance in their culture. The ancient Mayans are believed to have created the first chocolate drink, called xocolatl or chocolatl, using cacao beans and hot water. This bitter drink was used for sacred ceremonies, and the Aztecs continued to use it in similar rituals. Reflecting the value of plants in their lives, the Aztecs added ground maize, hot peppers, and eventually vanilla to these chocolate drinks. This sacred drink was reserved for the elite members of their culture and served at royal feasts in a dramatic presentation that involved holding the drink high to be poured into ceremonial gourds used for drinking.

Cacao beans were so important to the indigenous cultures that they were used in trade as currency and paid to warriors. Stories about the gods associated with cacao were developed. A thriving industry formed around a cacao bean counterfeit currency; small pieces of clay and stone were painted and passed as cacao beans. The Aztecs also valued the cacao bean and maintained storehouses filled with them. Writings from the Spanish Conquistadors recorded that the leader of the Aztecs, Moctezuma, drank fifty cups of the sacred drink a day because it increased endurance and helped men with their relationships with women.

Christopher Columbus claimed to be the first European to taste the cacao bean drink. Hernán Cortés and his Spanish Conquistadors drank the bitter chocolate drink but were not impressed. After killing Moctezuma, the Conquistadors pillaged the beautiful palace and surrounding village, taking all that seemed valuable. Whether that included cacao beans, vanilla, and corn, historians are unclear who first brought these New World gifts to the Old World.

Colonial Influence

As parts of Mexico were colonized by the Spanish (New Spain) in the late 1500s, they began exporting silver, cacao, vanilla, and sugar to Europe. The European women of colonial New Spain transformed the traditional indigenous chocolate drink into a version of what we now recognize as hot cocoa: a mix of cacao, sugar, vanilla, and various spices. This may have been an economic strategy: initially, cacao’s bitter taste had not appealed to Europeans. However, they quickly coveted the sweetened version of ‘chocolatl,’ and chocolate shops sprung up in European cities. Demand increased, and cultivation of both cacao and sugar surged in the young colonies. Unfortunately, the need for laborers resulted in the enslavement of both Indigenous people and imported Africans.

The legacy of slave labor used in cacao production began with the spread of cacao farms in the Caribbean and South America in the last half of the 1600s. As chocolate grew in popularity in Europe, the demand for cacao increased, and in the early 1800s, small plantations were established in eastern Africa. By the early 1900s, cacao agriculture had spread west across the African countries located along the equatorial tropical belt. In the mid-1900s, Asian countries began cacao production, recognizing the classic economic concept of supply and demand. The continued demand for cacao has resulted in global small farms that produced almost 5 million tons of cocoa beans in 2018. Today, 70% of the world's cacao beans are grown in Africa, primarily from Cote d’Ivoire (AKA the Ivory Coast) and Ghana.

Cacao Production & Modern Slavery 

Cacao production, harvest, and processing are labor-intensive and are done without mechanization. Farmers must check their cacao trees daily for ripe pods because pods don’t ripen simultaneously. Knowing when a pod is ripe can be difficult; the varying colors of pods do not indicate ripeness. Workers learn to assess by shape and touch.

Using a machete or knife, pods are carefully hand-picked from the trunks of the trees. The unique flowering structures of the tree must be preserved for future growth, and they grow alongside the ripe pods, so harvesting the pods must be done by experienced workers.

Once pods are removed from the tree, they are opened by either a knife or a wooden club, and the pulp-covered cacao seeds are removed. Workers inspect the cacao seeds for evidence of witch’s broom, a fungal disease that can cause deformity of pods and seeds and affect the flavor quality. Like vanilla beans, the cacao beans must be fermented by placing them in a heated box and allowing microorganisms to introduce chemical actions responsible for creating the chocolate taste and color. To prepare the beans for the final roasting process, 50% of their moisture must be removed by drying in the sun. Roasting is a carefully managed process that affects the final flavor of chocolate and differs depending on the intended market and buyer. These four processes are usually conducted on the farm, and then the beans are shipped to manufacturers who further refine the cacao for use in the chocolate industry.

Sadly, slave and child labor is still a reality, especially on West African farms. Most cacao is grown on small family farms, and despite the $100 billion-dollar chocolate industry that relies on these farms, many farmers live in poverty. According to the 2015 US Department of Labor report, Child Labor in the Production of Cacao, over 1.5 million children work on cacao farms in Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire, which are responsible for most of the world’s annual cacao production. Living in abject poverty, children from surrounding countries are trafficked and sold into indentured servitude. In addition to being exposed to toxic agrochemicals, smoke and fire from burning fields, use of sharp tools, and carrying heavy loads, reports have also documented that physical abuse is regularly doled out and living conditions are abysmal.

Medicinal Benefits

In the last few decades, research has identified some of the benefits of ingesting cacao: it stimulates the nervous system, modulates inflammation, and aids in protecting brain and heart health. Cacao contains a small amount of caffeine and the bitter alkaloid theobromine, both stimulating compounds that increase heart rates and dilate blood vessels. This is beneficial for most people, but some may experience side effects like nausea, sweating, trembling, and digestive issues. Clinical studies indicate that regular use of cacao can provide excellent support for cardiovascular health, including stroke and heart disease prevention, blood pressure modulation, and improved circulation.

Many people notice an energy boost when eating chocolate; clinical research supports this effect. Energy boosts can influence brain activity and moods, and one clinical study suggests that a regular dosage of cacao can decrease anxiety. Drinking a cup of 100% cocoa at night may help with stress-related insomnia by lowering blood pressure. Multiple studies show that cacao benefits cognitive function in the areas of alertness and memory.

One of the more interesting medicinal benefits revealed in two clinical studies is cacao’s help in preventing insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Researchers believe that cacao’s antioxidants and inflammation-modulating abilities help to increase insulin sensitivity.

Now for the big question: Is chocolate an aphrodisiac? The Aztecs certainly thought so! There is no scientific research supporting the idea that cacao stimulates sexual desire. Still, the medicinal benefits of nervous system stimulation, reduced anxiety, mood elevation, and energy boost would likely contribute to romantic conditions. The sensual pleasure of its taste and the cultural tradition of giving chocolate to our beloved is just more fuel for the fire.

Buying Healthy and Ethically Sourced Chocolate

Before you head online to order a case of your favorite chocolate bar for its powerful medicinal gifts, it’s important to understand how chocolate is made and what type offers health benefits. Chocolate uses varying levels of cacao, sugar, and dried dairy products. For optimal benefits, ingesting 100% cacao with no additives is the best choice. Learning to drink pure cocoa with little or no sweetener and chocolate bars that contain 85% or more cacao are the healthiest ways to enjoy cacao.

The best way to preserve the future sustainability of chocolate and cacao is to support chocolate that has been ethically sourced. New smaller boutique companies offer chocolate sourced directly from fairly paid farmers who use organic growing methods and do not employ children or slaves. The organization Slave Free Chocolate offers a long list of small business chocolate manufacturers who create some of the best-tasting chocolate using ethically sourced cacao. You can learn more about the efforts to eliminate child labor on the same website.

Types of Chocolate

·        Unsweetened - 100% cacao; Bitter and the most beneficial

·        Bittersweet - 63% to 85% cacao and sugar

·        Chocolate bars for both direct eating and baking, bittersweet is dark chocolate and has a more pronounced bitter flavor.

·        Semi-sweet - 52% to 62 % cacao and sugar

·        Semi-sweet chips are often used in cooking.

·        Milk chocolate - 36% to 46% cacao, sugar and dried dairy products. Most common chocolate used in candy manufacturing.

·        White chocolate - Made with cocoa butter, sugar, dairy products, contains no cacao beans. Actually, a chocolate confection, not chocolate.

·        Cacao nibs - Fermented, dried, and roasted beans that are chipped into unsweetened small nibs. These do not melt and are delicious in herbal tea blends.

·        Cocao powder - Nibs are ground into a paste, the cacao butter is extracted, and the remains of the bean are dried and ground into a powder that is unsweetened, bitter, and alkaloid-rich, making it naturally acidic.

·        Dutch-processed cocoa powder - Natural acidity has been neutralized by a wash with potassium carbonate solution; less bitter & less acidic. Offers a more “chocolately” taste.

Another recipe from my Folk Herbalist’s Journals. I worked on this recipe for our son who follows a vegan diet but also loves chocolate. It’s truly my favorite chocolate cake and it’s incredibly rich. 

Thank you for all your research and this great article about Cacao, Sue!

Sue Kusch is a mom, writer, gardener, folk herbalist, and hiker who lives in the Pacific Northwest. She writes about the journey of aging, her homestead, and her passion for plants at Fifteen Years and Counting…

You can read more of her publications here:

Fifteen Years and Counting...

Closing note from Leenie:

Here is a CBS News 2023 report on Child Slave Labor in companies that are practically synonymous with chocolate candy in America. Fortunately, there are some wonderful and delicious chocolates available from fair trade companies and we can effect change by supporting those companies with best practices. Slave Free Chocolate Website has a list of fair trade companies.

CBS News Video on Child Slave Labor on Cacao Farms