Cocoa Beans
Cocoa Beans, the basic raw materials for making all the varieties of chocolates, are the dried and fully fermented seeds of the plants known as Cacao. Cocoa seeds are usually white in color when raw but they turn into violet or reddish brown color after its drying.

Cocoa Solids and Cocoa Butter that are separated from Cocoa Beans are used in tons of varieties of chocolate recipes. Cocoa is the native of America and in the ancient days, cocoa beans were also used as a form of common currency. More than 70% of World’s requirement of Cocoa Beans crop is grown in West Africa. When it comes to processing of cocoa beans, Netherlands is the second most leading nation after North America.
Cocoa Beans find extensive applications in wide assortment of food products including chocolates, which are made with variety of ingredients including almonds, vanilla and cinnamon, among others. Depending upon the recipe and variety, each kg of chocolate preparations may contain 300 to 600 processed cocoa beans. Before being sold in the market, Cocoa Beans are dried, de-shelled, roasted, cracked and packed, which then find lots of applications in cooking, snacking and making endless array of chocolate dishes. Cocoa Beans when processed and treated with alkali produce less acidic and darker cocoa powder, which is used to make dark chocolates.
Cocoa Beans contain a high amount of flavonoids and epicatechin, which offer great health benefits to cardio-vascular problems. Dark chocolate made from cocoa beans is also known to help in controlling short term LDL cholesterol levels. Majority of the health benefits of cocoa beans are reduced by the addition of sugar, and milk that lessen the overall cocoa content. It has also been recorded that food rich with Cocoa Beans help in reducing the blood pressure. Theere are many more benefits of cocoa consumption but at the same time cocoa beans remain in limelight due to rampant use of child labor in producing cocoa beans.















