World Cocoa Foundation Research Update: December 2007
Robert D. Lumsden, Plant Pathologist and WCF Scientific Advisor
RESEARCH GROUPS: From Lizz Johnson Elizabeth.Johnson@ars.usda.gov: On October 17th, Adriana Arciniegas Leal successfully completed her training in SSR marker analyzes at the Sustainable Perennial Crops Laboratory at the USDA in Beltsville, Maryland. Adriana is one of two recipients for the 2007 Vavilov-Frankel Fellowship awards offered by Bioversity International, formally IPGRI. The proposal entitled ‘Agronomic and molecular characterization of selected cacao Germplasm groups for efficient conservation and utilization’ aims to look at a combination of agronomic traits and SSR markers to enable characterization of closely related cacao Germplasm accessions. Adriana is identifying unique cacao accessions with 25 SSR markers that previously shared the same 15 SSR primer fingerprint with other accessions. Adriana has returned to CATIE, Turrialba, Costa Rica to complete the Fellowship by generating pod and seed indices and determining disease response to black pod and frosty pod rot of cacao. The significance of these agronomic traits in differentiating cacao accessions sharing the same SSR profile will be determined. The results of this study will contribute to the USDA’s collaborative efforts with international research institutions to rationalize cacao germplasm maintained as living tree gene banks.
RESEARCH RESULTS FROM THE INTERNET: From The Edmondton Journal. Get healthy by eating chocolate. By. Chris Zdeb, edmontonjournal.com. Sunday, November 18. Sherwood Park -- Chocolate has come to be demonized as the key ingredient in sinful desserts such as devil's food cake. But for 95 per cent of its 3,000 year history, chocolate was considered a health food. It's actually very good for you and there's a growing body of research to back that up, says holistic nutrition practitioner Victoria Laine. Laine, who teaches an extension course on healthy food preparation at NAIT, has written a book, Health By Chocolate, which shows how to get the benefits of raw cacao, or raw chocolate and the benefits of whole food ingredients, foods closest to their natural state. She discovered the benefits of the darkside after depriving herself of chocolate for several years when she was in her 20s and chocolate was thought to be triggering some of her health problems including allergies and food sensitivity. Studies have found that chocolate protects against heart disease and probably some cancers, while boosting mood and energy. But all chocolate is not created equal. For any health benefits, chocolate has to be at least 70 per cent dark, Laine says. The higher the percentage of dark chocolate, the better. czdeb@thejournal.canwest.com. Full article.
From National Public Radio. How Chocolate Can Save the Planet, by Joanne Silberner. Will a Warmer World Have Enough Food? Excerpted from Morning Edition, November 19, 2007. Many people agree that chocolate is good for the soul, and researchers are finding that chocolate can be good for the body, too. But the environment? How could chocolate help with global climate change? The answer is found in a little piece of paradise, a patch of rainforest in eastern Brazil. Everywhere you look, something is growing. Orchids nestle in the crooks of trees. There are hundreds of shades of green, and the forest is loud with birds and insects. Some areas have been thinned out and planted with cacao trees. . . And here's the climate connection. Rainforest trees and plants store massive amounts of carbon — keeping it from getting into the air as carbon dioxide. Can Chocolate Help Save the Rainforest? There's a lot less rainforest than there once was. There used to be 330 million acres of rainforest in eastern Brazil, called the Mata Atlantica. Settlers arrived hundreds of years ago and began destroying the forest for the wood, and to create fields for pasture and crops. Only 7 percent of the Mata Atlantica remains, and destruction is still going on. Every time a tree is burned, its stored carbon is released. As more carbon is released into the air, the planet gets warmer. That worries Dario Ahnert, a plant expert at the State University of Santa Cruz in Eastern Brazil. He says farmers need an incentive to save the remaining forest, and he hopes chocolate will be that incentive. Chocolate used to be a huge industry here, but in the past two decades, plant disease and low prices in the world market for cocoa beans devastated the industry. Farmers turned to other ways of making a living, including logging trees or burning the forest for farmland or pasture. When the nutrients in the soil were used up, the land was abandoned. Ahnert wants to persuade farmers to return to chocolate farming and preserve the forest. Full story, as produced by Anna Vigran.
From Confectionerynews.com. Blommer expands cocoa trading programme. By Charlotte Eyre. 16/11/2007- US-based Blommer Chocolate this week said it will establish a sustainable cocoa farming programme in the Ivory Coast, after a similar strategy increased crop yields and worker incomes in Indonesia. Advocacy and consumer groups are increasingly putting pressure on chocolate companies to commit to ethical trading, and help support the workers who farm cocoa in third world countries. Through the programme, the Cote d'Ivoire alliance of Farmers, Olam International and Blommer Chocolate (CIFOB), Blommer will teach farmers in the Ivory Coast farming and business techniques, designed to improve yields and the quality of cocoa crops. "For instance, we have introduced a greenhouse type structure called a solar dryer to the cooperatives," said Karl Walk, director of Blommer's cocoa department. "The dryers provide a weather proof, natural method of properly drying cocoa beans, which allows the farmer to create a consistent product for the marketplace." Blommer decided to set up the programme after the success of a similar venture in Indonesia, South East Asia, calledthe Sulawesi Alliance of Farmers, Olam International and Blommer Chocolate (SAFOB). The company said that the cocoa farming cooperatives under both programs will be able to sell cocoa directly to Blommer for market prices. Full article.
From NutraIngredientsusa.com. Earthfruits says cupuacu could be next superfruit. By staff reporter, 11/28/2007- Utah-based Earthfruits is offering up an Amazonian fruit it says could be the next big antioxidant carrying superfruit. The company says cupuaçu, a cousin to the cocoa tree, has been dubbed a "pharmacy in a fruit". Finding the next obscure fruit with a high nutrient profile is big business in the functional fruit industry as originality, combined with taste attributes, scores high points with consumers. Earthfruits - which already sells açaí, acerola and camu camu - also appeals to the speciality consumer desire for products derived sustainably. The company partners with local co-ops to obtain wild-harvested fruit from deep within the Amazon rainforest. "Because of our location in Para, Brazil and the relationship we have with the residents of the area, we are able to not only bring rare fruits like cupuaçu to the US but also provide a sustainable income for the people living in the Rainforest," said Earthfruits general manager Kevin Busby. Full article.
Continue >>