Cocoa Research Institute of Nigeria (C.R.I.N.), is a federal establishment that researches various aspects related to the production of cocoa, cashew and coffee in some parts of Nigeria.
The areas focussed upon include types of soil, seedlings, planting, nurturing, harvesting and
processing of the researched items.
Prominent among the departments that conduct these researches are Soil and Chemistry, Plant Pathology, Biochemistry and Agronomy departments.
For close to two years I worked as an Assistant Technical Officer in the Soil and Chemistry department before proceeding to the university, to further my studies.
It is in this department that titrations are done to determine the percentage of different mineral contents of various types of soil suitable for the growth of cocoa, cashew and coffee seedlings.
When harvested, cocoa beans are processed into cocoa wine either via standard procedures in the biochemistry laboratory or brewed locally on the plantation.
For commercial purposes, cocoa wines of various
flavours and colours are produced in the biochemistry laboratory.
Fresh cocoa wine is made locally on the farm by scooping out the cocoa beans and the juicy pulp out of the pods into a plastic bowl which is then covered with banana leaves. It is allowed to ferment for one week, turning it four times daily during the fermentation.
The pulp is transformed into alcohol which seeps out of the sieved bowl to the bottom of a glass container.
The recovered alcoholic beverage is filtered in a clean cloth and left to ferment for three hours. Thereafter the tasty white cocoa wine is served and enjoyed.
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