Geneva, Dec 7 (PTI) Cocoa trees that are exposed tostressful conditions produce tastier chocolates, a study hasfound.
Cocoa trees grow in hot and humid climates near theequator. Traditionally, these trees are raised together inmixed groves with other types of trees and plants that cancool the air and provide vital shade.
The system, called agroforestry, provides a low-stressenvironment, increases nutrients in the soil and helpsmaintain ground water levels.
However, to gain higher yields, growers sometimes plantcocoa trees in solitary, "monocultural," groves, in which thetrees are exposed to stressful conditions.
In response to the stress, trees produce antioxidantsthat can potentially counteract the damage, but thesecompounds also could change the quality characteristics of thebeans.
Scientists from Research Institute of Organic Agriculture(FiBL) in Switzerland wanted to find out whether differinggrowing methods can influence the chemical composition, andpotentially the flavor, of cocoa beans.
They harvested beans from five cocoa tree farms inBolivia at the beginning and end of the dry season, which runsfrom April to September.
The trees were raised in full-sun monocultural groves orin agroforest settings. The beans were fermented and dried,then analysed.
The research team detected only minor differences in thechemical composition among the beans harvested from the farmsduring the same weather conditions.
Slightly more phenols and other antioxidant compoundswere detected in beans taken from monoculturally grown treesthan those that came from trees grown with agroforest methods,but the differences were not significant, according to theresearchers.
The larger contribution to chemical composition was theweather. Overall, the antioxidant content increased and fatcontent of the beans decreased during the dry season astemperatures rose and soil moisture dropped.
The researchers say these differences could contribute tovariability in cocoa bean flavor. PTI MHNMHN.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.