La valorizzazione dei sottoprodotti agricoli: il caso del cacao

Cocoa is produced from the seeds of the Theobroma Cacao, an arboreal plant of the Sterculiacee family. It not only provides us with a pleasant beverage, appreciated all over the world and a wide diversity of chocolate products, but also a lot of interesting by – products. In fact, these last mentioned, are merely considered waste products from the traditional production cycles. Their use as raw material for new products is very limited and is largely confined to the producer countries themselves. A greater understanding of composition of these by –products could increase their value. At the same time, it could allow the producer countries, who are often situated in the most poor areas of the world, to implement new production cycles in order to realize the potential added - value products. This could provide obvious positive benefits of local economics. In this paper, after an analysis of the various by – products from a chemical and commodity science point of view, their potential various uses in food and no-food sectors are examined.