PURE PLANT MAGIC

by Mandy Bell

Here's some truly amazing facts about the plants themselves. We are always blown away by how nature has created these wonderful plants we use in our Bare Coco Collections. Get your scientific, botany and plant taxonomy head on and prepare to be amazed - we are!


CACAO (Theobroma Cacao)
Cacao Pod


Theobroma Cacao, also called the Cacao Tree and the Cocoa Tree, is a small (4–8 m tall) evergreen tree in the mallow family Malvaceae, native to the deep tropical regions of the Americas. Its seeds or cocoa beans are used to make chocolate liquor, cocoa solids, cocoa butter and chocolate. Cocoa butter is used in skincare preparations for its moisturising properties and cacao for its many attributes.

Leaves are alternate, entire, unlobed, 10–40 cm long and 5–20 cm wide and have a shiny, waxy appearance. Cocoa trees take 3-5 years to yield a crop, with hybrid varieties providing crops earlier but cocoa trees should be productive for about 25 years if they are looked after properly. They are generally harvested every other year. Cacao pods actually grow up the trunk of the tree and not from the branches, like other trees. Cacao trees need protection from sun and wind, which is why they thrive under the shade of other tall trees of warm rain forests.


Cacao pods ripening on the tree trunk

The outside of the cacao pod is 2 to 3 cm thick, leathery and filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp (called Baba de Cacao in South America) that surrounds each seed or cacao bean that are fairly soft and white or pale lavender to dark brownish purple color with a lemonade-like taste. There are between 30 to 50 large seeds or beans in each pod, depending on the variety and growing conditions. There are three varieties of cacao bean -  the Forastero, Criollo, and Trinitario.


White mucilage around cacao seeds in the pod

Once the seeds are removed from the pod they are placed into large boxes, covered with banana leaves and fermented for 3-10 days. The mucilage 'melts' away as a liquid that is sometimes made into an alcoholic brew by the locals! Temperatures in the fermenting phase can reach 40°-45°C. The beans are then laid out in the sun to dry and harden. After this they are graded, debris removed and then bagged up for either roasting or using in their current form.

Cacao trees are mainly pollinated by a specific insect called the Chocolate Midge (Forcipomyia Squamipennis) which is specific to the Cacao tree and the Cacao flower is designed to accommodate this particular insect. We think this is amazing. Without these little flies there would be no chocolate!



Once the cacao beans reach a processing facility there are a number of processes that can happen. Some are sold as they are but here are the main cacao products that exist on the market.

Whole 'Raw' Cacao Beans
These are beans that are not roasted and still whole, shells intact.

Whole Roasted Cacao Beans
Cacao beans that are roasted whole in their shells.

Cacao Nibs
Cacao beans that have been 'winnowed' or had their skins removed and broken into small pieces.

Cacao Paste/Solid
Cacao beans that have been 'winnowed', ground into a coarse paste and left to harden in blocks or chunks.

Cacao Butter
This is the oil that has been separated from the cacao powder and is the natural fat content in the cacao bean.

Cacao Powder
Cacao powder is the dry element of separating the cacao butter from the cacao solids.

Click here to learn a little more about CACAO

CACAO IS A HEALTHY CHOICE

Cacao Powder Nutritional Information (one ounce)
  • Calories: 175
  • Protein: 3 grams
  • Fat: 15 grams
  • Fibre: 5 grams
  • Sugar: 1 gram
  • Iron: 6% of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI)
  • Magnesium: 16% of the RDI
  • Phosphorus: 9% of the RDI
  • Zinc: 6% of the RDI
  • Manganese: 27% of the RDI
  • Copper: 25% of the RDI
  • NO cholesterol: 0mg

 

COCONUT (Cocos Nucifera)


The coconut tree (Cocos Nucifera) is a member of the family (Arecaceae) and the only known living species of the genus Cocos. The term "coconut" can refer to the whole coconut tree, the seed or fruit which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco, meaning 'head' or 'skull' after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features.

Mature ripe coconuts can be used as edible flesh or processed for oil and plant milk, charcoal from the hard shell and coir from the fibrous husk. Once pollination and fertilization occur, fruits set and develop to maturity in about 12 months or less than a year for some dwarf species.

The fruit is a fibrous drupe but with a smooth outside skin (exocarp), which may vary from green to red brown or even ivory. The coat (mesocarp) in the young coconut is white and firm. The ripe nut has a fibrous mass, the husk, from which coir is obtained. Within this fibrous mass is the nut with a hard shell (endocarp) enclosing the kernel (endosperm). Between the shell and the kernel is a thin brown seed coat (testa). It adheres firmly to the kernel which is the white flesh that is about 12 mm thick, lining the central cavity containing the coconut water. Dried coconut flesh is called copra and the oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking as well as in soaps and cosmetics. The hard shells, fibrous husks and long pinnate leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating.

Coconuts have a multitude of uses and have been the mainstay of food and many other uses for centuries, millennia even. The stem develops from the single terminal bud called the 'cabbage' which is the coconut's only vegetative growing point. Under favourable conditions, the foundation of the trunk of a young tree reaches full development within 3-4 years.

Coconuts can float on salt water and germinate when they reach land on coral islands and keys. Coconuts are very hardy and can survive long journeys without water or nutrients. The hard shell protects it from salt and any predators.



Coconut floating in the ocean before reaching land

The green coconut fruit turns brown as it matures. Coconuts are produced all year round with the trees averaging from 50 to 200 coconuts annually. Coconut flesh is eaten from immature and mature fruit and coconut water is more plentiful in younger fruit.

Coconuts have traveled the seas to increase their habitat from the Malay peninsula to low-lying areas near the sea in the Caribbean, Australia, the South Sea islands and anywhere else the temperature and rainfall lie within the coconut favoured growing conditions. 

Coconuts remarkable levels of resilience means that they can be grown in a wide variety of soils, although they do require a relatively high amount of rainfall. The natural habitat of coconuts is found in coastal areas and on the fringes of deserts.

Coconut water
Young, immature coconuts yield lots of coconut water

GREAT NUTRITION

Typical levels per cup (80g) of coconut flesh

  • Calories: 283
  • Protein: 3 grams
  • Carbs: 10 grams
  • Fat: 27 grams
  • Sugar: 5 grams
  • Fibre: 7 grams
  • Manganese: 60% of the Daily Value RDI
  • Selenium: 15% of the RDI
  • Copper: 44% of the RDI
  • Phosphorus: 13% of the RDI
  • Potassium: 6% of the RDI
  • Iron: 11% of the RDI
  • Zinc: 10% of the RDI

Coconut has a high fat content but it is a saturated plant fat that is different to any animal derived saturated fat. Plant based oils are more than just fats. They contain many antioxidants and other substances. Coconut oil contains MCT's or 'medium chain triglycerides' that have 'shorter' carbon chains (6-10 atoms) than other saturated fats and are broken down by the body in an easier and more efficient way than other saturated fats that are 'long chain triglyceries'. The structure of the fat in coconut oil makes it less likely to add to fat buildup in the body and therefore it is said to be a healthy fat.

There is evidence to suggest that coconuts:

  • Maintain healthy cholesterol
  • Lower “bad” low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels
  • Help raise “good” high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels

They grow in much the same climate as Cacao and sometimes act as a 'shade tree' for Cacao trees, making them the perfect partners in nature, as well as at Bare Coco!

Click here if you would like to find out a bit more about COCONUTS


 

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