Cacao Pulp Juice, the Future of Cocoa
January 16, 2023
The Untapped Power of Cocoa Waste: 5 Cacao By-Products
January 16, 2023
Passionately brewed with cacao innovation and sustainability at the fore, Boocha is a Great Taste award-winning kombucha enhanced by cacao pulp juice. The fizzy, delicious, and refreshing drink invites you to partake in our drive to make use of the full cacao fruit to help reduce food wastage in the cocoa industry and provide extra income for our agroforestry farm.
We ship from London to all of Europe, the US, and Canada.
The Story Behind Boocha, the Cacao Pulp Juice Kombucha
My first encounter with the edible part of the cacao fruit was with the pulp, the sweet white covering around the unfermented cacao bean. For newbies, the cacao fruit, known as pod, has a bitter bean covered in a mucilaginous juicy flesh.
As a little girl visiting my grandmother, I would pick up cacao fruits from the trees around her house, open the pods to suck away the sweet pulp, and then threw away the cacao bean.
I’d eaten chocolate before, but I had no idea that the yummy treat came from that pebble-like bean I threw away. With time, I learned more about cocoa farming and chocolate making. But I also learned that much of the delicious cacao pulp, apart from what the local farmers ate to boost up their energy levels, got discarded as a mere byproduct of chocolate production. Drained as cocoa sweatings during bean fermentation, the juice from the hydrolyzed pulp is thrown away as waste.
I decided to do something different about the wastage. That desire birthed forth cacao juice-based drinks, one of which is our award-winning cacao pulp kombucha.
The Drive Towards Cocoa Sustainability
The cocoa industry is not effortlessly sustainable. Ever since the Olmecs and the ancient Mayans started making the “food of the gods,” hot chocolate, from cacao and the Europeans later created solid eating chocolate, only the bean of the cacao fruit has been used in these various transformations.
That makes only about 10% of the fruit being used. A huge 90% of the other parts gets discarded as waste, not only reducing potential income but also polluting our environment. Only in recent decades have studies shown the potential of cocoa byproducts in various uses like animal feed production, soap making, soil fertilizers, and more.
READ: By-Products of Cocoa Production
The overdependence on cocoa beans to the detriment of the other parts of the pod is problematic. The first is the amount of waste generated by discarding about 90% of the cacao fruit. Secondly, with cocoa bean producing nations different from chocolate making countries, there’s a gulf that impedes sustainability.
Cocoa bean prices fluctuate often on the world market with the local farmers usually at the mercy of such fluctuations besides the exploitative activities of middlemen. While chocolate makers take higher prices from transforming the dried beans into the world’s favorite snack, most of the farmers who grow, ferment, and dry the beans languish in chronic poverty. They’re forced to fell down more forest for farmland to increase their incomes.
As a tree-to-bar brand, we’re not just chocolate makers who buy processed cocoa beans, but we’re cacao farmers. To ensure we protect the planet every step of the way, we practice agroforestry and use renewable solar power on our farm in lieu of hydroelectricity.
By having total control of our cacao products from the farm to the shelves in shops, we have the freedom to chart unfamiliar territory with new cacao products that would otherwise go to waste with the separation between cacao farmers and chocolate makers.
READ: The Future of Cocoa with Cacao Pulp Juice.
Boocha, like our other cacao fruit juice-based products, is just one revolutionary step in utilizing the whole cacao fruit, creating extra income for our farm, and helping our environment stay healthy. This cacao juice kombucha also offers health-conscious consumers a kombucha with extra health benefits.
What is Kombucha?
Kombucha is a tart, slightly sweet, carbonated beverage made from fermenting sugared black, green, or herbal teas with a symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast (SCOBY).
Kombucha is regarded as a living food because it contains probiotics, which are microorganisms beneficial to the human body. For thousands of years, humans have enjoyed this fizzy, sparkling drink for its health benefits.
Boocha combines these health benefits with the wealth of cacao juice nutrients to offer consumers an even richer kombucha.
Nutrient Composition of Cacao Pulp Juice Kombucha
To give you a better appreciation of our product, we’ve separated the nutrient compositions into those from kombucha alone and those from cacao fruit juice. This is because cacao pulp juice is not only an ingredient in Boocha, but a nutrient source in its own right with health benefits.
Nutrients commonly found in kombucha
|
Nutrients in cacao fruit juice |
| As a living food, kombucha contains probiotics, which are beneficial microorganisms.
The drink also contains vitamin C, proteins and B vitamins (1, 2, 3, Folate, 6, and 12) |
Cacao pulp juice is rich in calcium, potassium, sodium, magnesium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese, phosphorus.
It is also a source of theobromine, organic acids like citric acid, and polyphenols.
|
Health Benefits of Cacao Pulp Juice Kombucha (Boocha)
As a fermented non-alcoholic beverage, Boocha is suitable for a wide variety of consumers. It is a high-water content, low caloric drink with various vitamins and minerals, antioxidant properties, and probiotics.
Improves Digestive Health and Support the Immune System
The probiotics in kombucha balance the levels of gut bacteria and help boost digestive health.
Prevents chronic diseases
Antioxidants in kombucha minimize the oxidative damage from free radicals, helping to prevent diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, Alzheimer, and a host of other inflammatory conditions.
Boosts energy
B vitamins help the body to release energy from food and strengthen the nervous system.
Improves general health
The diversity of vitamins and minerals found in cacao juice kombucha perform various functions in different body systems, thereby contributing to general wellness.
How to Drink Boocha
If you’re a newbie to drinking kombucha, the introduction of probiotics to your system may result in abdominal discomfort and other reactions. To prevent this, begin with minimal quantities per day. The CDC recommends 4 ounces 1-3 times per day with lots of water. Once your body adjusts to the new normal, you may increase the amount. Some people take more than half a liter per day.
To aid digestion, drink kombucha before breakfast and 30 minutes before lunch and supper.
Note that drinking kombucha every day for prolonged periods can lessen its health benefits as your body grows used to the drink. You can take occasional breaks of 1-2 weeks.
How to Store Boocha
As a living food, kombucha continues to ferment even when bottled. Store in a refrigerator to maintain the delicious taste. Unless you enjoy it more acidic!
Drink More Than Just a Cacao Pulp Kombucha
Join our drive towards a more sustainable cacao farming that reduces waste-generation, protects the environment, and creates extra income for our farm back in Cameroon.
We ship from London to all of Europe, the US, and Canada.
References
https://www.webmd.com/diet/kombucha-is-it-good-for-you
https://www.fda.gov/media/147707/download
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/others/
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/health-benefits-kombucha
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/probiotics-101
https://ifst.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1046/j.1365-2621.2000.00342.x
https://archive.org/details/kombucha0000alle
https://archive.org/details/kombuchamiraclef00tiet_0
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