Upcycling in the Cacao Sector: Can/Will it Help Farmers? | #PodSaveChocolate
Episode 38 of #PodSaveChocolate features an exploration of Upcycling in the cocoa sector. Some are suggesting it as a way to help farmers left behind in the current spike in cocoa prices. Is it?
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Episode 38 Overview
A long-time colleague (we first met in the late 1980s during my tech career) knows of my involvement in chocolate and cocoa and routinely sends me links to stories that show up in his news feed. This past Tuesday just a few hours before the previous episode of PodSaveChocolate he sent me the following link:
As Tuesday was the day after Earth Day, it immediately occurred to me to make this the basis for an episode. I also think it’s timely given the two episodes from last on the topic The High Co$t of Expen$ive Cocoa.
Upcycling in the cocoa sector is not a new idea. One of the foundations of Barry Callebaut’s Whole Fruit initiative is upcycling – I wrote about that in 2019.
Clay Gordon
Of course, while Barry Callebaut likes to claim credit for most of the innovations here, it turns out that the ideas and much of the tech predate BC’s work on these new derivatives.
Clay Gordon
Clay Gordon
I remember seeing the use of cacao flour made from pods at the Salon del Cacao y Chocolate in Lima in 2014. In 2013 while in Lima during the Salon and in Tarapoto on La Ruta del Cacao I tasted many forms of jalea (jelly) and mermelada (marmalade) made with cacao juice and chopped cacao placenta.
Many of you may know of my involvement in bringing Solbeso, an 80-proof distilled spirit made from cacao juice to market – my work on that project began in 2011.
More recently we’ve seen huge interest in capturing and bottling the juice as a beverage.
This is one juice effort, founded by Marika van Santvoort in the Netherlands. I first met Marika in Amsterdam back in 2015.
Upcycling is not interesting because it is new. What is interesting (to me) is that a think-tank like WRI is addressing the topic of upcycling. From the article:
Despite the many benefits of reusing cocoa byproducts, there are significant barriers to its widespread adoption and scalability within the cocoa industry.
One major challenge is the lack of infrastructure and access to technology for collecting and processing cocoa waste.
This episode of PodSaveChocolate will take a close look at upcycling in the cacao sector, exploring the whys and hows, barriers to success, and to ask the question, “Is upcycling a way for a large proportion of cocoa farmers to capture more added value?”
Credit Notes
The Firefly prompt used to generate the background for the hero image was “upcycling cacao pods on the farm” and the style prompt was “photo.” Below are three other Firefly renderings generated from other prompts.
[L] Prompt: “upcycling cacao pods on the farm.” Style prompts: photo, dramatic light & wide angle. [C] Prompt: “upcycling cacao pods on the farm with equipment to extract juice.” Style prompts: photo & steampunk. [R] Prompt: “upcycling cacao pods on the farm with equipment to extract juice.” Style prompts: photo, antique & color explosion.
Episode Hashtags and Related Accounts to Follow
#Upcycling #WorldResourcesInsitute
#cocoa #cacao #cacau
#chocolate #chocolat #craftchocolate
#PodSaveChocolate #PodSaveChoc
#LaVidaCocoa #TheChocolateLife
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Clay Gordon
Clay Gordon