Products
Cocoa powder is available in grocery stores and specialty stores. Cocoa butter is available in pharmacies and drugstores, among other places.
Stem plant
The evergreen cacao tree of the mallow family (Malvaceae, formerly Sterculiaceae) is native to South America and is now cultivated in regions around the equator, including South America, Africa and Asia. Cocoa arrived in Europe with the conquistadors after the discovery of the New World.
Parts of the plant used
The seeds of the cacao tree (Cacao semen), which are about 2 to 3 cm in size, fermented, dried, roasted, de-oiled and ground, are used. They are also called cocoa beans and there are about 50 of them contained in the cucumber-like fruits of the tree, which grow directly on the trunk.
Ingredients
The ingredients include:
- Fats: cocoa butter
- Minerals, vitamins
- Polyphenols: Flavonoids
- Tannins
- Proteins, carbohydrates
- Methylxanthines: theobromine, little caffeine.
- Nitrogen compounds such as phenylethylamine, tryptophan, tyramine.
The fat is called cocoa butter, as cocoa fat or cocoa oil (Cacao oleum).
Effects
Cocoa has antioxidant, antihypertensive, cardioprotective, lipid-lowering, anti-inflammatory, stimulant, mild psychoactive and beneficial properties, among others. Its ingestion is considered beneficial to health and is believed to prevent the development of disease.
Indications for use
- As a stimulant and food.
- Chocolate is made from cocoa liquor and the cocoa butter along with other ingredients.
- From cocoa powder, together with milk and sugar, the cocoa drink is prepared.
- For the production of confectionery.
- Cocoa fat is also used as a pharmaceutical excipient, for example, as a basic measure for suppositories or ovules – but today only rarely.
Adverse effects
Products with cocoa such as chocolate or the cocoa drink often contain a high sugar content and have a high calorific value.
