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COPYRIGHT 2003 Natural History Magazine, Inc.
To most North Americans the word "chocolate" probably conjures visions of a fragrant, nut-studded brown slab, or a box full of small but elaborate variations on gooeyness, or one of those outrageous dark desserts with names such as "mud pie" or "death by chocolate." Few of us who savor and consume such delights think about moist, lush foliage, the shrieks of toucans and parrots, or a Maya ruler from the seventh century A.D. sipping chili-spiked cocoa froth.
But perhaps we should. Theobroma cacao--the tree whose grant pods contain the seeds that, when roasted and then ground, become the powder that is the basis of chocolate--is an evolutionary product of the vast tropical rainforests of the New World. Indigenous peoples domesticated the tree in the northern Amazon basin and seemingly independently somewhere in what is now southern Mexico, Guatemala, or Belize (recent genetic work, however, suggests that the Mesoamerican domesticated stock originated in South America). To those fortunate people, the cocoa drink made from cacao was, as reflected in the genus name, indeed the "food of the gods."
Today, however, this forest tree is cultivated far from its birthplace. In 2002 more than 40 percent of the world's cacao came from Cote d'Ivoire. Ghana, Indonesia, and Nigeria together produce about 33 percent, Brazil less than 5 percent. But though well-heeled norteamericanos may be laying down a ten-dollar bill to pay for half a dozen hand-crafted chocolate delights, the world's average rate for cacao beans in 2002 was not much more than eighty cents a pound, and many farmers who grew the beans were paid far less.
Yet a look at the biology, history, ecology, and economics of the cacao tree--and the industry that has sprung up around it--shows that unlike many products of the developing world that the developed world enjoys, cacao can be a relatively benign crop. It can be grown economically on small farms, bringing individual farmers into the world's cash economy without destroying their independence and self-determination. As a shade-tolerant tree, it can also be cultivated under a canopy of larger trees already living in the tropical forest; clear-cutting is actually detrimental to a sustained crop yield. That means that cacao growing, albeit not entirely without harm to the forest ecosystem, is far less destructive than most other forms of cultivation. Preserving the canopy, in turn, helps in maintaining populations of indigenous birds and other forest animals, and in pulling carbon dioxide out of the air. Inside the wrapper of this food we have come to take for granted is a complex web of interrelating factors that ecologists are only beginning to understand.
The cacao tree grows naturally in the shaded, humid understory of lowland tropical forest, reaching heights of some twenty feet. Twenty or thirty large, gently fluted pods grow directly from the tree's trunk and branches, dangling like holiday ornaments. Each pod is between six and twelve inches long, its hue orange or reddish orange by the time it matures. Inside the pod are two or three dozen seeds--the cacao beans--surrounded by a sweet, milky-white gelatinous pulp that is the main ingredient for a South American drink.
The cacao beans themselves, which are dull brown on the outside and a striking purple within, are an unlikely resource for the dessert-hungry people of the world. A mere brush against the tongue...
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