Soon I will travel to South America. Chocolate is my passion. I would like to bring a cocoa fruit. I’d like to put this one ‘on strong water’. Which product should I use? In which container do I put it?
Answer
Best,
In the National Botanic Garden we store fruits and other fleshy plant parts in a solution of 70% alcohol.
But preserving a whole cocoa fruit in alcohol could be difficult because the alcohol has difficulty penetrating into the fruit. You can cut them into pieces if you want. If you don’t want to do that, it’s best to inject alcohol into the fruit itself with a syringe.
The most important thing is that the alcohol is replaced daily until it appears that the fruit no longer releases water. With a large fruit this can take up to four weeks.
It is best to store the fruit in a glass jar with a cut glass lid or with a stainless lid. Make sure that the volume of the jar is at least three times the volume of the fruit.
Store the jar with the fruit in a well-ventilated and dark place.
Success with it!
Answered by
dr. Gert Ausloos
biology, botany
New Avenue 38 1860 Meise
http://www.plantentuinmeise.be
.