Theobroma cacao Cocoa or Chocolate Bean

The Cocoa tree is one of 20 species of Theobroma from the warmer parts of central America. It grows into a small tree up to 5 – 6 metres with large oblong leaves. It is a nice looking small tree which was introduced into England from Trinidad in 1739. The name Theobroma is derived from Theos meaning God and Broma meaning food in reference to Cocoa being food for the gods.

The Cocoa tree produces small flowers with a pink calyx clustered directly on the trunk and older branches. The flowers are pollinated by small flies or midges. It is not the rose coloured flowers but the fruit that is in demand world wide. The large drupaceous woody fruits or pods grow to 150mm to 300 mm long and have five oblong cells in them. Each fruit, which is brown in colour, can weigh up to 500grams when ripe and have between 20 and 60 large seeds (beans) embedded in white pulp

Each seed contains a significant amount of fat or cocoa butter (40 – 50%)

The beans yield Cocoa after a process of fermentation and roasting which is used for making chocolate and cocoa for baking and drinking.

The seeds from this plant were used as a form of currency in Aztec society (1150-1520). The Aztecs classified all of the plants in their realm and considered the seeds of the cacao tree to be extremely valuable. At times, no person in the whole Aztec kingdom was allowed to use the seeds, except the King and his closest relatives and acquaintances. This is why the botanical name for Theobroma cacao translates as ‘food of the gods’.

With the popularity growing for both Cocoa and Chocolate more planting than ever it is being grown for this world wide commodity. This tree is now cultivated in Brazil, Costa Rica, Guayaquil, Ecuador, Venezuela, Peru, Guatemala, Trinidad, and most of the other West India Islands as well as Africa, Ceylon, Samoa and regions with similar climates.

Reported to be antiseptic, diuretic, embolic, emmenagogue, and parasiticide, cocoa is a folk remedy for alopecia, burns, cough, dry lips, eyes, fever, listlessness, malaria, nephrosis, parturition, pregnancy, rheumatism, snakebite, and wounds and cocoa butter is even used to eliminate facial wrinkles.
The latest developments in cocoa/chocolate research include two clinical studies which indicate the flavanols found in Cocoa are beneficial to vascular health. Chocolate contains chemicals similar to those found in Red Wine, Grape Seed, and Green Tea that can aid blood circulation, reduce blood pressure, and provide other benefits.
So not only does chocolate taste nice it is also good for you. Mind you all good things in moderation please.

Business management principles in a recession

Effective expenditure controls.

Some call this cost control, but a better approach is to ensure effective spend for the future survival of the business is more important that straight cost cutting.

Future planning.

Understanding of customer needs, trends, innovation, creativity, market demand opportunities, product development all individually or collectively help lay the foundation for the future. Production or service delivery methods may also be changed

Local Government means Local Government

Christchurch was named some years ago as “The Republic of Christchurch” because it refused to follow the leads of other Councils to participate in the latest round of “we know what is best for local government” game.

Let us go back to basics. Councils were formed to bring economies of scale to services local people wanted and needed; roads, water supply, sewerage disposal, parks, gardens, libraries, celebrations, caring for less fortunate people etc because it was the cheapest, fairest and technologically advanced way to provide these services. It was a collective.

Councils were elected to make decisions to provide the services the local people wanted. Elections brought accountability every three years.

Over time there has been an increasing demand on the range of services to be provided and inevitably these were supplied. Communities were generally happy.

Central Government has set out to regulate local government through various acts and regulations many of them to set national standards to meet current health and safety standards for everyone. Nothing wrong with that but there was no money to help communities meet those new standards but that is another discussion.

Planning became an issue as there was perceived by many to be a waste of natural resources without clear thought to the future. The Town and Country Planning Act followed by the Resource Management Act have set out How planning should be done and what generic things need consideration. Individual councils built there own plans based on those guidelines.

In 2002 the new Local Government Act was a major reform. It gave Local government back the power of general competence which basically means a Council can do a whole range of things provided it is set out in a long term plan the LTCCP.

We as individuals and groups have the opportunity to comment on that plan and tell the Council what we think of it. Not enough of us do that.

This year we have a new Minister of Local Government who is intent on ignoring the legislation and talking as if his word is law. Actually it is central government meddling in local government again.

Communities both large and small do know what they want.

Each community is different and allows their councils to do the things the community wants. Local thinking and local action.

Some communities want more others less and others something different. That is the way communities develop their uniqueness, their point of difference and their aspirations. This difference is called Product Differentiation in the commercial world.

In times of economic turbulence this product differentiation of communities is an important leverage to encourage a rapid return to economic stability and then progress.

Having Central Government Ministers setting the ground rules about what Local Government will do is the same as painting everything grey or yellow. This sameness will extinguish every bit of innovation and creativity a community can muster to develop a unique, vibrant place to live, work and play and develop unique economic benefits to New Zealand.

Let us keep Local Government Local. Let’s be creative and responsive, let’s look at our own place in the world, let’s plan our own future within a national context, let’s be innovative, let’s be caring, let’s be exciting, let’s be ourselves rather than have someone try and impose their grey ideals on us.