For more than 60 years, three generations of scientific researchers have continued to tackle key problems, landing in Hainan Cocoa, not only unique in China, but also attracted the attention of overseas markets, both production value and ornamental value, the future prospects are "sweet", it and Hainan to continue the unfinished story, worth looking forward to.
▶ ▷ Hainan Cocoa world map
On October 18th, the 3rd China Cocoa Culture Festival and Cocoa Industry Summit Forum with the theme of "Diversified Cocoa, Diversified Life" was held in Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden, Wanning City, Hainan Province. At the cultural festival, cocoa produced in Hainan has become the "new favorite" of the industry.
Cocoa tree at Wanning Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden. Hainan Daily reporter Li Tianping photographed
"When the first cultural festival was held in 2019, most of the people who came were seed researchers and growers, the second session came with many marketers, and the third session this year, there were many high-quality customers." Not only internationally renowned cocoa companies contacted us, but also some chocolate companies in Beijing, Shanghai and other places in China also contacted us. These two days my phone rang non-stop, and everyone chased after us to order our cocoa beans. On October 22, Li Fupeng, director of the Cocoa Research Center of the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, happily told the Hainan Daily reporter, "The orders we have received are three to five times our production capacity!" ”
"As the main R&D center and production base of China's cocoa, Hainan has the ability to provide technical support for the large-scale development of the cocoa industry after more than 60 years of continuous research and development by scientific and technological workers." He introduced that at present, Hainan's annual cocoa bean production is only about 10 tons, which is far from meeting the needs of domestic and foreign markets.
Cocoa's "foreign" and "pretty" From the "nobility" in drinks to the beverages that have swept the world, the history and culture of cocoa has lasted for nearly four thousand years
Coco is very "foreign" and very "close to the people". Most of the chocolates, candies and pastries that people love to eat have cocoa as an important raw material. In the restaurant industry, cocoa is one of the world's top three drinks along with tea and coffee.
What is less well known is that from the Western-style "nobility" of drinks to the common drinks that have swept the world, it took nearly four thousand years for cocoa to enter the daily life of the public.
According to verifiable records, the history of cocoa being consumed by humans can be traced back to the oldest civilization in the Americas, the Olmec civilization from 1900 BC to 1500 BC. Archaeologists have found traces of theobromine in the fragments of clay pots from that period, which is only found in the cocoa beans. A large number of excavated Mayan civilization period containers prove that the Mesoamerican aristocracy at that time drank cocoa.
What is less well known is that the cocoa bean, that is, the cocoa seed, is rich in cocoa butter, theobromine, polyphenols, flavonoids and other active ingredients, which have health care effects such as improving heart, kidney and intestinal function.
At present, China's annual per capita consumption of chocolate is less than 0.1 kg, which is less than 10% of the annual per capita consumption of Western countries.
"Cocoa beans are in short supply on the market, and a considerable part of the chocolate you eat in China may be cocoa butter substitute products, not real cocoa butter products." Li Fupeng told a Hainan Daily reporter.
Hainan and Coco have a special fate. Hainan Island is a representative cocoa growing area in China. In Hainan's Popular "Punch Card" place - Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden, many tourists are not far away, just to see the elegant posture of the cocoa tree. Many people here taste the pulp of the fresh cacao fruit for the first time.
Cocoa pulp. Courtesy of respondents
It is worth mentioning that in 2004, the State Post Bureau issued a series of stamps entitled "New Look of Overseas Chinese". Xinglong stood out from 84 overseas Chinese farms across the country and was selected to enter the stamp series known as the "National Business Card". One of the stamps depicts a thriving cacao tree, and the cacao fruit is prominently located on the stamp. Cocoa, as a result, has become a representative plant of prosperity.
Hainan Cocoa, Unique in China Hainan Cocoa Cultivation shoulders the heavy responsibility of developing and expanding China's cocoa industry
Located between latitude 18°10′-20°10′ north latitude, Hainan Island is the only tropical island province in China. In 1954, overseas Chinese returning from Southeast Asia brought a small amount of cocoa seeds back to their new home, wanning Xinglong overseas Chinese farm in the southeast of Hainan Island, and began a new journey of cocoa in China. "The temperature at which cocoa is suitable for growth is between 24 °C and 26 °C, while the average annual temperature in Xinglong is exactly around 24 °C." Zhang Zhixiang, a first-generation scientific researcher at the Xinglong Experimental Station of the South China Tropical Crops Research Institute (the predecessor of the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences), said that there are accidental factors and inevitable factors for cocoa to settle in Xinglong.
According to the records, in 1956, because xinglong cocoa trees were well planted, the Baoting breeding station and the Hainan Botanical Garden (now Wanning Dongling Farm) successively tried to plant cocoa trees. After the establishment of the Xinglong Experimental Station of the South China Tropical Crops Research Institute in 1957, it continued to pay attention to the cultivation of cocoa in Xinglong, and in 1960, it carried out scientific research projects to try to introduce cocoa in a wasteland and carry out field observation and research on the growth habits of cocoa. In the more than 60 years since then, researchers in Hainan have stuck to Xinglong and contributed to the development of China's cocoa industry.
From 1960 to the present, three generations of researchers have devoted themselves to the research of cocoa. The first generation of scientific researchers represented by Zhang Zhixiang have thoroughly understood the growth habits of cocoa and the requirements for climate and environment, as well as the basic field management technology; the second generation of scientific researchers represented by Wang Qinghuang, Lai Jianxiong and Song Yinghui have conducted research on the cultivation technology of cocoa for more than 30 years, and selected and bred China's first cocoa rich-yielding cold-resistant variety with intellectual property rights, "Hot Introduction No. 4"; the third generation of scientific researchers represented by Li Fupeng and Qin Xiaowei will use the traditional breeding seedling model. The transformation into grafting and breeding and grafting of adult trees has provided technical support for the promotion of new cocoa varieties and the sustainable development of the cocoa industry.
"The cocoa planting area in Hainan is at most more than 10,000 mu, the Xishuangbanna in Yunnan is about 20 mu, and the Planting Area in Taiwan is about 2,000 mu." Therefore, Hainan's cocoa cultivation is unique in china, and Hainan shoulders the heavy responsibility of developing and expanding China's cocoa industry. Li Fupeng said.
Globalization has profoundly changed the way of life of mankind, and it has also profoundly changed the path of scientific research. Researchers at the Institute of Spices and Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences look globally to carry out cocoa research and exchanges. In 10 years, they have collected and preserved various germplasm resources from more than 20 countries such as Ecuador, Costa Rica, Brazil, Côte d'Ivoire, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Indonesia, Fiji and other countries, and currently have more than 500 cocoa resources preserved in the resource garden, ranking third in Asia and Oceania in the conservation of germplasm resources, and for the first time introduced 2 species of wild species such as large-flowered cocoa and bicolor cocoa. They study both varieties with productive value and varieties with ornamental value.
Cocoa, the expanding world map Looking at the world, cocoa cultivation has spread to nearly 60 countries and regions in Europe, Asia and Africa
According to historical records, in the era of great navigation, Europeans discovered the nutritional and medicinal value of cocoa, and the demand for cocoa was increasing. Cocoa as a species began to migrate around the world as the colonists expanded.
In the 16th century, the Spaniards and Portuguese introduced cocoa to their colonies to meet the growing demand for cocoa. Spaniards will lead cocoa to Trinidad and Tobago, Honduras, Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia. The Portuguese will lead cocoa to Brazil.
In the 17th century, the French saw the prospect of growing cocoa in the Caribbean colonies, bringing cocoa to the Dominican Republic and Grenada. Spain will lead cocoa to the Philippines, Indonesia and Peru.
In the 18th century, the British and Dutch brought cocoa to Asia, and countries such as India, Sri Lanka and Malaysia began the history of cocoa cultivation. In the 19th century, the Portuguese brought cocoa to Africa, and subsequently other colonial powers followed suit.
Cocoa entered China, beginning in Taiwan in 1922. However, cocoa has high requirements for temperature and other conditions, and is only suitable for growing between 20 ° north and south latitudes, and Taiwan is limited by climatic factors, and only a small amount of cocoa trees have been planted in the past hundred years.
Nowadays, around the world, cocoa is almost always grown near the equator where cocoa is suitable for growth. Cocoa is distributed in nearly 60 countries and regions in Asia, Latin America and Africa, and the main producing countries are Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ecuador, Cameroon, Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Dominica.
According to the International Cocoa Organization (ICCO), in the 2019/2020 harvest season, the global cocoa harvest area reached more than 12 million hectares, with a total production of more than 5.5 million tons, of which Africa accounted for 76.4%, the Americas accounted for 15.6%, and the Asia-Pacific region accounted for 8.0%. Côte d'Ivoire is the world's largest producer of cocoa with a production of 2.02 million tonnes, while Ghana is the second largest producer with a production of 970,000 tonnes.
Hainan cocoa, the "darling" of the global market If 15% of Hainan's economic forest cocoa is planted, it can add more than 2.3 billion yuan of agricultural output value every year
"Belgians use amazing to describe the taste of Hainan cocoa, and the chocolate they produce from Hainan cocoa beans is very popular in the European market. From the feedback we have received, the cocoa beans from Hainan are considered to have a 'unique flavor, with the taste of nuts and berries' and are suitable for the production of personalized cocoa products. Li Fupeng said.
cacao. Hainan Daily reporter Li Tianping photographed
It is understood that China's annual imports of cocoa beans and cocoa products are about 150,000 tons, and the size of China's chocolate market is growing at an average annual rate of 10% to 15%, with a consumption potential of up to 20 billion yuan.
"The supply of cocoa beans produced in Hainan is in short supply." Li Fupeng said that last year, the cocoa beans produced in Hainan achieved the first export, exported to Belgium, the export price is 50 yuan per kilogram, "These two days, Belgian enterprises have been urging us to cocoa beans, but we have no beans available." "Although Hainan exports cocoa beans in small quantities, it has attracted the attention of Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, the world's cocoa producing powers.
Worldwide, cocoa has three major strains: FORASTERO Flastro (80% of production), CRIOLLO Croirot (5% of production), and TRINOTARIO Trinidadario (15% of production). Among them, Flastro has a high yield, a heavy bitterness and a single flavor, and is mostly used to make commercial chocolate; Cleolo has a delicate taste, elegant flavor and rich layers, floral and fruity aromas, but the yield is low; Trinidad Rio is a hybrid of the former two, which is both elegant in flavor and higher in production than the latter. The cocoa in Hainan belongs to the Trinidad Leo strain, which is difficult to compare with the main cocoa producing countries, and is more suitable for the development of high-quality cocoa.
"Hainan Province's rubber, coconut, betel nut and other economic forests cover an area of more than 10 million mu, if 15% of the economic forest cocoa, the annual output of cocoa beans up to 120,000 tons, can add more than 2.3 billion yuan of agricultural output value every year, the development prospects are broad." Li Fupeng said.
Cocoa is an iconic tree species in the tropics, which will present the typical "old stem flowering and fruiting" landscape of tropical plants, which is of great scientific appreciation. From the perspective of building shared farms and developing tourism, planting cocoa is also of great benefit to Hainan.
Cocoa flowers. Courtesy of respondents
Last year, a chocolate production line of Hainan Xingke Tropical Crop Engineering Technology Co., Ltd., a high-tech enterprise affiliated to the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, was put into use, "In recent years, the Institute of Fragrant Beverages has cooperated with relevant scientific and educational units and enterprises to carry out scientific and technological research in the whole industry chain around the development needs of the cocoa industry, and has a certain technical reserve." It can provide excellent cocoa varieties, seedling breeding technology and standardized planting technology, and has developed more than 10 kinds of products with independent intellectual property rights such as chocolate, cocoa coconut milk, and cocoa coffee. We believe that the time is ripe for Hainan's large-scale development of the cocoa industry. Li Fupeng said.
World's main cocoa producing areas (countries and regions)
Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ecuador, Cameroon, Brazil, Peru, Colombia, Dominica
Layout of Cocoa planting areas in Hainan
Advantageous areas: Wanning, Qionghai, Baoting, Lingshui
Suitable areas: Sanya, Danzhou, Ledong, Dongfang, Wuzhishan, Ding'an, Wenchang
Sub-suitable areas: Haikou, Chengmai, Lingao city and county
The difference between cocoa beans and coffee beans
The surface of the coffee bean is smooth and darker, and almost every coffee bean of the same variety is about the same size, and there is a groove in the middle of the bean; in contrast, the surface of the cocoa bean is not very smooth, the color is lighter, and the size is not very consistent
▶ ▷ Cocoa: Tropical wonders of trees
The cacao tree is a tropical plant in the family Mallow family, mainly distributed between 20° north and south latitudes. The tree originally lived in the Amazon rainforest of South America and later migrated to Central America. In the 16th and 17th centuries, colonists from Europe brought back cacao seeds from the Americas, and the cocoa tree began to be tried worldwide as a cash crop.
As a typical tropical plant, the cocoa tree has a peculiar appearance and a high "appearance". Although it is a tree, it does not grow into a towering tree, generally between 4 meters and 7.5 meters tall, the diameter of the trunk is 30 cm to 40 cm, and the fruit is larger than an adult's fist. If you're going to ask what shape and color the fruit of the cocoa tree is, that's a hard question to answer. Depending on the strain of the tree, the fresh cocoa fruit has several shapes such as nearly round, oval, inverted oval, spindle shape, etc., and when it is immature, it is bluish white, green, dark green, reddish green, red, purple, etc., and will tend to orange yellow and yellow after gradual maturity.
The fruit of the cocoa tree is not small, but the flowers are very petite. At first glance, many people will think that it is a bud that has just emerged. The cacao flowers are inflorescences of polygonals consisting of 5 sepals and 5 petals. The petals are yellow, pink, fuchsia, etc.
The leaves of the cacao tree are long ovate, and the young leaves, like flowers and fruits, are various in color, and can be light green, light brown, pink or purple red, and the mature leaves will become dark green. Cocoa leaves are generally between 7 cm and 30 cm long, with the longest reaching 50 cm. It is very interesting that cocoa leaves can grow on the branches for a long time and will not easily fall, and some leaves will not leave the branches after a whole year, which is very "nostalgic".
In addition to the richly colored flowers, leaves and fruits, another great wonder of the cacao tree is the "old stem blossoming and fruiting". As we all know, the flowers of most plants bloom on the branches. The branches of the flowers are called flower branches, and the flower branches are delicate and beautiful when the flowers are in full bloom, which can be described as "flower branches". However, in the tropics, there are some plants that do not take the usual path and bloom on the trunk or main branch, such as jackfruit, fig, star fruit, cocoa and so on. This phenomenon of flowers and fruits growing on the trunk and main branches is called "old stem flowering and fruiting".
The cocoa fruit is a pod, also known as a "non-cracking stone fruit", which, when ripe and dried, is as hard as wood and requires some effort to break it open. After breaking open, a neatly arranged line of cocoa seeds is revealed, and the cocoa beans are ready. Many people don't know that the flesh of the cocoa fresh fruit can be eaten, and its taste is sweet, a bit like the flesh of mangosteen.
Cocoa trees are not common in China, and after the opening of the Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden in 1997, groups of tourists rushed to the botanical garden to see the cocoa trees, and for a time the cocoa forest became a landscape. In order to meet the needs of tourists to taste the early adopters, the Botanical Garden once sold fresh cocoa fruits as tourist goods. At the peak of tourism, 1,000 units can be sold a day.
▶ ▷ Relay of three generations of "Cocoa Man"
From the first cocoa seed brought back to Xinglong Huaqiao Farm by returned overseas Chinese, to the opening of the first cocoa nursery, and then to the development of China's cocoa representative planting area, this uneven dream road, Hainan "cocoa people" have gone for 67 years. 67 years of wind and rain, 67 years of overcoming difficulties, three generations of scientific researchers rooted in the prosperity, starting from scratch, immersed in technical research, only to build Hainan into a global high-quality cocoa origin, just to let China Coco go further.
First generation: touch habits
Observation record of the wind and rain
Find out the cocoa growth habits
"At that time, the returned overseas Chinese brought back the seeds to plant the cacao tree, which looked very good, proving that the cacao tree was very suitable for growing in the boom. We study the thriving cocoa tree and observe it every day. Although more than 60 years have passed, the 89-year-old professor Zhang Zhixiang still remembers the scene of studying cocoa in that year.
Zhang Zhixiang, a first-generation cocoa researcher in Hainan, observes the growth of cocoa.
In 1958, Zhang Zhixiang went to work at the Xinglong Experimental Station of the South China Tropical Crops College (the predecessor of the Spice and Beverage Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences, hereinafter referred to as the Xinglong Experimental Station). As soon as she entered the test station, she couldn't wait to run to Xinglong Huaqiao Farm to see the cocoa trees.
"At that time, in order to fill the gap in the field of national tropical crop research, we began to study the beverage crop cocoa." She said.
According to records, in 1956, because xinglong cocoa trees were planted well, the Baoting Breeding Station and the Hainan Botanical Garden (now Dongling Farm in Wanning City) successively tried to plant cocoa. In 1960, the Xinglong Experimental Station introduced cocoa and conducted scientific research projects to begin research on the growth habits of cocoa.
"At that time, cocoa was a very rare treasure. In order to grow cocoa, in 1960 Hainan introduced 10 baskets of cocoa from abroad, and each basket contained 100 fresh cocoa fruits. Two of the baskets were given to us, and I went to Danzhou to receive the cocoa nuts. Zhang Zhixiang recalled that it was exactly January, the weather was very cold, and the cocoa fruit needed to be processed immediately, otherwise it would lose the ability to germinate. The South China Tropical Crops College immediately mobilized cadres and workers to break through the shells and remove cocoa seeds. Rub off the white flesh wrapped around the seeds little by little with rice bran, wash them, and place them in the nursery. "At night, when the outside temperature is low, we will raise a campfire around the nursery to keep the cocoa seeds that have just entered the nursery warm and stay up all night." She said.
After these cocoa seedlings grew up, they were assigned to Ledong, Baoting, Sanya and other places for planting, and Zhang Zhixiang brought some of them back to the Xinglong Experimental Station for trial planting. At that time, there was no nutrition bag to protect the root system of cocoa seedlings, and everyone did not know much about the growth habits of cocoa, so the survival rate of this batch of seedlings was not too high, but some seedlings survived tenaciously. The cocoa trees in the "Old Cocoa Garden" of the Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden were planted at that time.
Decades passed, and green silk turned white hair. One of the things that Zhang Zhixiang and other first-generation cocoa researchers have done in their lifetimes is to study how cocoa can take root and grow well in Hainan. In the 1960s and 1970s, the basic conditions for scientific research in Hainan were very poor, and only 15 cocoa germplasm resources could be obtained at the Xinglong Experimental Station, and the observation of cocoa by researchers could only be carried out in the field.
Zhang Zhixiang and other researchers spent 20 or 30 years making field observations and records day after day to figure out how long it takes for cocoa seedlings to flower and bear fruit, and the environmental and meteorological requirements for the growth of cocoa trees. They also studied cocoa seedling breeding techniques such as cuttings, "aerial compression strips", and bud joints, as well as cocoa management techniques such as fertilization, shaping, and pruning, laying the foundation for later scientific research work.
The second generation: grasp the harvest
Research and development of high-yield cultivation technology
"Hot Lead Four" was a blockbuster
Lai Jianxiong graduated from South China Agricultural University in 1983 and Wang Qinghuang graduated from South China Tropical Crops College in 1984. Lai Jianxiong later served for a long time as the director of the Cocoa Research Center of the Institute of Spices and Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (hereinafter referred to as the Institute of Aromatic Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences). Wang Qinghuang later served successively as the director of the Institute of Aromatic Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences and the president of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences. The cocoa researchers represented by them have done one thing - to develop cocoa production cultivation technology.
Lai Jianxiong, a second-generation cocoa researcher in Hainan, observes the occurrence of cocoa insect infestation.
Optimizing the breeding of cocoa varieties is a long process. "Cocoa was planted for 3 years before flowering and bearing fruit, and then selected from them for regional experiments with good phenotype, stable traits and high yields, and planted the test plants in 3 cities and counties for observation and study for 3 consecutive years, and a round of experiments lasted five or six years before first-hand data." Then there are small-scale productive planting experiments to see if the variety can be promoted on a large scale. Lai Jianxiong introduced.
Under the leadership of Wang Qinghuang, from the launch of the research on cocoa cultivation technology in 1984 to the selection and breeding of China's first cocoa variety with intellectual property rights in 2015 - "Hot Introduction No. 4", it took 31 years for the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences To drink. It is gratifying that "HotIn No. 4" has the characteristics of high yield and hardiness, its yield is 3.5 times that of the world's average cocoa yield, and it shows a wide range of adaptability, which can be promoted throughout Hainan Island and parts of Yunnan.
Wang Qinghuang, a second-generation cocoa researcher in Hainan, observes the development status of cocoa fruits.
Since the 1980s, Wang Qinghuang's team has also carried out experiments on dense cocoa tree planting, studying techniques such as planting and intercropping cocoa in coconut groves and betel nut fields. As these technologies matured, some places in the eastern and southern parts of Hainan Island began to promote the cultivation of cocoa.
Lai Jianxiong witnessed the peak and trough of the development of Hainan's cocoa industry: with the implementation of the "Million Mu Coconut Forest Project", by about 2002, the planting area of Cocoa in Hainan reached more than 10,000 mu, and Wenchang, Qionghai, Wanning, Lingshui, Baoting, Ledong, Sanya, Wuzhishan and other cities and counties were planted. But the good times were not long, a few years later, because people's consumption level at that time could not keep up, coupled with the imperfect deep processing system, cocoa beans had no market, many farmers cut down the cocoa tree, and the cocoa planting area in the province quickly shrank to about 2,000 mu.
"At that time, most of the scientific research was pure scientific research, which was not linked to the market, and in the midst of loss, we deeply realized that those who did agriculture had to solve the worries of the farmers." Lai Jianxiong said. Since then, the researchers of the Institute of Aromatic Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences have changed the working mode of spending most of their energy on the front end of the cocoa industry chain - the planting link, and began to advance to the field of deep processing.
New generation: establish a brand
Look at the global docking market
Create a cocoa origin brand
In 2012, "post-80s" Li Fupeng graduated from Huazhong Agricultural University and entered the Institute of Aromatherapy of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences. Faced with only 2,000 mu of cocoa planting area in the province, he and other new generations of researchers were not discouraged or slack, and they looked for new directions to continue to carry out technical research. "The predecessors do not give up, we must also adhere to it, this is a historical responsibility!" Li Fupeng said.
Li Fupeng, a new generation of cocoa researchers, is carrying out cocoa hybrid breeding.
The older generation of researchers planted a large area of lush old cocoa trees in the Xinglong Tropical Botanical Garden, including many excellent varieties. On this basis, Li Fupeng and other new generations of scientific researchers continue to develop cocoa seedling breeding technology, and breed in different directions according to the characteristics of the seeds themselves, regional characteristics and market demand. They have transformed the traditional breeding seedling model into grafting and breeding and grafting and replanting of adult trees, providing technical support for the promotion of new cocoa varieties and the accelerated development of the cocoa industry.
They systematically carried out the identification and evaluation of botanical traits, agronomic traits, quality traits, resistance traits and other core cocoa germplasm resources, and obtained more than 5200 valuable data. They studied and formulated a perfect technical system for the description and evaluation of cocoa germplasm resources, and systematically evaluated and screened 25 excellent germplasm. Following the "Hot Introduction No. 4", they successively selected and bred 12 excellent strains such as "Xiangke No. 16".
Qin Xiaowei, who graduated from Northwest A&F University, actively did a good job in the collection, preservation and appraisal of cocoa germplasm resources, and his paper on the identification and evaluation of cocoa germplasm resources attracted the attention of the Belgian Pier Marcolini chocolate brand team, which also indirectly contributed to the first export of cocoa beans from Hainan.
From 2020, Li Fupeng took over the position of director of the Cocoa Research Center of the Institute of Aromatic Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences, shouldering the heavy responsibility of the development of China's cocoa industry.
"Our generation must seize the opportunity!" Li Fupeng said that since 2019, the Institute of Aromatic Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences has held a cocoa culture festival every year, connecting the scientific research end, the planting end and the market end through the way of the festival, looking at the world and closely following the market demand for technological updates and product research and development, and creating the Hainan cocoa origin brand.
The pictures are provided by the Cocoa Research Center of the Institute of Aromatic Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Thermal Sciences
▶ ▷ The founder of Ke KeHu found high-quality chocolate raw materials in Hainan - "Qiao" met Hainan beans
Perhaps, in the impression of many people, chocolate is a sweet and greasy industrial product without a soul. Right now, this stereotypical label is slowly changing with the advent of the increasingly popular Bean to Bar – an origin flavor that can bring interesting "travel" to your taste buds.
On October 18th, the 3rd China Cocoa Culture Festival and Cocoa Industry Summit Forum was held in Wanning Xinglong. At the forum, Wang Liang, the founder of the boutique original bean chocolate brand KESSHō Kekehu, and her husband Mark shared their love affair with Hainan Cocoa.
Wang Liang and Mark.
Wang Li graduated from the Department of Biology of Tsinghua University, mark graduated from the Department of Computer Science of Stanford University, what kind of opportunity made this "bully couple" immersed in the world of cocoa? What is the difference in taste of Hainan cocoa origin chocolate baked by them? The Hainan Daily reporter conducted an exclusive interview with the husband and wife.
Wang Liang is making desserts.
Explore from scratch
"Let the world know more about China through chocolate"
Wang Liang in front of him, wearing black-rimmed glasses, spoke softly and thinly, but his thin body contained great energy.
12 years ago, Wang Li became a business analyst at a strategic consulting firm after graduating from university, and then crossed into the baking industry. In 2019, together with her husband, she founded the boutique chocolate brand KESSHō Koko. She considers herself just a "schoolboy" in the chocolate industry, and although she has encountered many unpredictable difficulties, she has been exploring the difference in the chocolate world.
Coco Amber Single Origin Chocolate Products Set (from left to right: Hainan, Ghana, Tanzania, Peru).
Ms. Wang recalls her first experience eating raw bean chocolate: in the spring of 2017, in the small town of Mysore in southern India, she found a piece of chocolate wrapped in recycled paper with coconut shell fiber in a treasure boutique supermarket.
The waiter at the shop enthusiastically introduced in English: "This chocolate uses local Indian cocoa, which is a very high-end and unique dark chocolate. ”
Wang Liang has gone to many well-known chocolate shops in Belgium and France to "punch in", and was very curious to hear the clerk introduce Indian chocolate in this way. When she took it apart and tasted it, she was stunned: "That bright acidity, like the taste of jackfruit, passion fruit, and Yunnan sour horn, blooms at the root of the tongue, followed by the slightly bitter sweetness after the caramel is burned." It's hard to believe it's a piece of dark chocolate that doesn't contain any flavor additives. ”
Enjoying the perfect taste, Wang Liang met the founder of this chocolate shop, an exotic couple from South Africa and the United Kingdom who chose to settle in India. It was her first in-depth understanding of additive-free origin raw bean chocolate.
Since then, Wang Liang has gained a new understanding of chocolate flavor. In the following year, Wang Liang studied baking, pastry and chocolate in Tokyo, Japan, and visited the excellent local origin of fine bean chocolate brand enterprises.
"What impressed me was not only the exploration of flavor, the high standard of quality, but more importantly, the use of chocolate products to elegantly convey the local culture that they had heard about since childhood." Wang Said.
Subsequently, Wang Liang and Mark had an idea: "If we can create made In China's internationally renowned chocolate brand, so that the world can learn more about China through a piece of chocolate, how good it would be!" "In 2018, they started from scratch trying to make fine origin chocolate.
Be amazed by Hainan Cocoa
"Tasting Hainan cocoa is like a trip full of adventures"
Born into an American bakery family, Mark grew up learning to make pastries with his grandmother. At the beginning, he was confident in his new career.
However, "the ideal is very full, but the reality is a bit bone-like." From importing cocoa beans and purchasing equipment to researching production methods, it took them more than 2 years.
At the beginning of 2018, when Wang Liang and Mark purchased cocoa bean samples through overseas fine cocoa bean sample suppliers, they lost a sum of money in vain because they did not understand the white list regulations for imported cocoa beans.
Coincidentally, one of Mark's alumni is the owner of cocoa estate, and by contacting him, Mark ordered 4 tons of cocoa beans. Subsequently, the company obtained the qualification of import and export trade, and gradually understood the requirements of the production layout.
Cocoa beans were bought, but because they had no experience, they did not store the cocoa beans in the cold storage in time, resulting in many beans becoming moldy and long worms.
"Later, we learned that the space conditions for storing cocoa beans are very demanding, the humidity of the warehouse should be below 50%, and there are few suitable venues." Wang Li said that the impact of air humidity on the flavor of fine cocoa beans is almost irreversible, so it is best to build the warehouse and manage itself. If there are no conditions, you can consider sealing and freezing the cocoa beans, but pay attention to prevent moisture during the thawing process.
Faced with difficulties and challenges, they did not choose to give up. In the past three years, the KESSHō Koko amber brand has won 8 medals in Asia Pacific and international competitions, and the winning products cover a variety of flavors, colorful double-layered chocolate, raw bean chocolate steaks, etc.
Ke Ke Amber Hainan is produced in the heat of the sea. Images were provided by respondents
In the process of searching for high-quality cocoa raw materials, Wang Liang and Mark discovered Hainan cocoa. At the Coco Shop in Shanghai, hot chocolate drinks and cake sets made from Cocoa from Wanning Xinglong attract many young consumers to taste.
Hainan is the main cocoa-producing area in China, and it is also a blessed place for this "xueba couple". "The first time I tasted Hainan cocoa, I thought it was amazing, a bit like blueberries, raspberries, and nuts. Tasting Hainan Cocoa is like starting a journey full of adventures. Mark said this about the flavor of Hainan cocoa.
Wang Liang said that in the exploration of time and again, the difference in cocoa flavor is actually similar to the diversity of the world, and it is precisely because of these differences that people have brought a rich experience.
"Load" Hainan cocoa into the world
Looking forward to making more interesting chocolates with Hainan cocoa
Mark and Wang Liang came to Wanning to participate in the forum this time, in fact, with a "small task": to investigate the cocoa planting situation and fermentation process in Hainan, and then purchase some Hainan cocoa back.
Liao Zirong, director of the Hainan Tropical Agriculture International Technology Transfer Center, introduced that Hainan Island is located in a zone suitable for planting cocoa, and climatic conditions are very conducive to the growth of cocoa. At present, the Institute of Spices and Beverages of the Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences has preserved more than 500 copies of cocoa germplasm resources and established a special garden for cocoa germplasm resources. After product ratio, regional and productive tests, the team selected and bred China's first cocoa variety with intellectual property rights - "Hot Lead No. 4".
Whether a cocoa bean is of high quality and what are the evaluation criteria? Liao Zirong introduced that the evaluation criteria of cocoa beans include fat content, polyphenol content, the ratio of theobromine and caffeine, and flavor characteristics, etc. "Hainan cocoa has a unique flavor, and in recent years, foreign boutique chocolate manufacturers have increased their enthusiasm for the procurement of Hainan cocoa. Last year, 500 kilograms of cocoa beans produced by Hainan Xingke Tropical Crop Engineering Technology Co., Ltd. were exported to Belgium, and the Hainan cocoa industry is developing in the direction of high-end boutiques! ”
"Looking ahead to the year ahead, what we're most looking forward to is to be able to make more interesting chocolates and chocolate products from cocoa from Hainan." Mark said that they hope to reduce the carbon emissions caused by transportation by discovering more high-quality local food raw materials and promote the more efficient development of China's boutique agriculture. "I hope that Hainan cocoa can be 'loaded' into the world, so that the world can better understand the taste of Hainan and the taste of China."
Wang Li said: "Cocoa has opened up the pursuit of life exploration in our hearts, life is amorphous, and the mouth is the world. ”
Original title: Coco Legend From accidental settlement to global fame, Hainan Cocoa is "proud" and sweet