The Cocoa tree bears fruit on its trunk and branches. They are called pods. The pods contain seeds which are called cocoa beans. The beans are the main source of chocolate.

Ghana is highly favourable for growing cocoa. Cocoa is the most important agricultural commodity Ghana produces and the mainstay of Ghana's economy. Apart from gold, diamond, manganese and bauxite. Cocoa production occurs in the country's forested areas: Ashanti, Brong-Ahafo, Central Region, Eastern Region, Western Region, and Volta, where rainfall is 1,000-1,500 millimeters per year.  It requires high rainfall and temperatures to grow, as well as rainforest trees to offer shade and protection from too much light and damage caused by wind.

Cacao trees grow in a limited geographical zone, of about 20° to the north and south of the Equator. The word "cocoa" comes from the Spanish word cacao, which is derived from the Nahuatl word cacahuatl. The Nahuatl word, in turn, ultimately derives from the reconstructed Proto Mije-Sokean word kakawa.

Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma. The word theobroma derived from the Greek for "food of the gods"; from the Greek word "Theos", meaning 'god', and (broma), meaning 'food'.

In the year 1870, a man name Tetteh Quarshie undertook a voyage to the Spanish colony Fernando Po (now Bioko in Equatorial Guinea). About six years later he returned to Ghana with several cocoa beans (the Amelonado) and made history.

70% of the world's cocoa beans come from four West African countries: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. The Ivory Coast and Ghana are by far the two largest producers of cocoa: together they cultivate more than half of the world´s cocoa.  

In Australia, Cadbury uses high-quality cocoa beans sourced from Ghana in West Africa and Asia. Most of the world's cocoa is grown in a narrow belt 10 degrees either side of the Equator because cocoa trees grow well in humid tropical climates with regular rains and a short dry season.

It takes about 5 years for the tree to bear fruit, has a peak growing period of 10 years, but can extend for decades.  Cacao pods take 4-5 months to grow, several weeks to ripen, and are cut from the tree with a sharp blade.

This food for the gods has so many benefits of the powers of healing.

In Ghana, we used the dry seed to the prepared soup. When you have stomach upset, you can chew the seed and is very rich in polyphenols, which reduces the inflammation and improve cholesterol levels and improve blood flow for good function of the brain.it also reduces the risk of the heart the attack, heart failure and stroke.

The cocoa powder has a lot of health benefits, very rich in flavanols which help to reduce high blood pressure by improving the nitric oxide levels and blood vessel function.

 Cocoa products decrease the polyphenol in your body by fighting a disease like asthma, peptic cancer, and diabetes.

  Cocoa has Antibacterial properties which can stimulate the immune system, fight the bacteria that cavities and also help to protect the skin to dehydrate.

Over the years, health challenges among third world nations stems from ways of controlling malaria and communicable diseases.This trend has however changed as developing countries in Africa and Nigeriain particular now battle with numerous cases of high blood pressure also known as hypertension amongst its citizenry.

By Roland Joseph Tetteh

The word banana comes from west Africa. When the Portuguese arrived in west Africa about 1482, they found the banana was a fruit eating by the native people of west Africa. They also found that the people there were planting bananas, which they decided to spread the news to the western world of Europe.

The banana is one of the oldest fruits in the world. In the biblical lands, those days, they used banana trees as flower decoration. West Africa began using banana for food that no one knows-it reaches back before the dawn of history.

There are two types of banana in west Africa, that is the sweet banana and the plantain. The sweet bananas are usually eaten raw while the starchy plantains are traditionally cooked and eaten as a vegetable.

For millions of people in Africa in general, bananas are very important dietary staple and Africa leads the world in plantain production.
In west Africa, the banana leaf is used for medicinal purposes. The banana plant, often called a tree, is a large herbaceous annual that may reach six (6) meters in height. The trunk of this monocot is not woody, but is actually a rosette of overlapping corm. The leaf blades themselves are also large, often about 2.5 meters in length.

In west Africa the leaf is used to wrap food commonly called kenkey (local Ghanaian dish) and the trunk also used as a sponge for bathing and used to clean the teeth.
In west Africa there are, of cause, a lot more medicinal fruits, some of which are hardly mentioned in general literature books.
Bananas are used naturopathically as a dietary method of controlling allergic reactions.

Eating banana can help prevent a substantial number of illness and conditions making it a must to add to our daily diet. Adding banana to your diet find it reduces the distressing symptoms of runny nose and puffy eyes.

Banana also helps to overcome anemia, blood pressure, constipation, hangovers, heartburn, ulcers, mosquito bite etc.
Banana is very rich in calcium, phosphorus and iron. The Iron in them is more than in an apple.

Bananas contain pectin, which help to digest other foods, and they are very useful for normalizing bowel function in patients with either chronic constipation or chronic diarrhea.

In fact, where there is no doctor, banana will help to boost your energy levels. There is no better snack than a banana containing three natural sugars-sucrose, fructose and glucose contained with fiber. Every part of the banana is useful.

Banana helps the body to store Protein. A banana a day will give you one fifth of the recommended daily intake of vitamin C and the amount of vitamin B6 in bananas is comparable to that in the equivalent weight of liver.

The BBC Good Food Show Winter is heading back to the flagship Birmingham NEC  bringing together the UK’s greatest chefs and experts, plenty of festive shopping and inspiration, exciting live entertainment in the unique Big Kitchen and on numerous stages across the Show.

It will provide the perfect opportunity to get into the spirit of the season with a fantastic line-up of chefs and experts, you can feast your eyes on hundreds of artisan producers, pick up the perfect stocking fillers, get hands-on in masterclasses, and so much more – all the ingredients for the ultimate foodie day out.

Packed with seasonal produce, ideas for al-fresco dining and hundreds of exciting producers and brands to shop from, there will be all the summer inspiration you need by soaking up expert masterclasses, live demos from the seasonal stages and much more.

Plus, there will be the chance to join Mary Berry, Tom Kerridge, Michel Roux Jr, Nadiya Hussain, Raymond Blanc, the Hairy Bikers, Ainsley Harriott and Rick Stein as they cook up a summer feast in The Big Kitchen.

Again, at this year’s BBC Good Food Show Winter (November 28 – December 1), there will also be the widest variety of food, drink and cookery products from over 450 exhibitors, including great brands and a vast range of independent and artisan producers.

And, as always, it promises to be the biggest and tastiest day out in the UK.

By Roland Joseph Tetteh

The watermelon is a flowering plant that originated in West Africa. It is a highly cultivated fruit found growing in the wild. Citrullus colocynthis may be a wild ancestor of the watermelon; its native range extends from north and West Africa to west India and was observed growing wild in central Africa.
Watermelon is a scrambling and trailing vine in the flowering plant family Cucurbitaceae. There is evidence from seeds in Pharaoh Tombs of watermelon cultivation in Ancient Egypt. Watermelon is grown in favourable climates from tropical to temperate regions worldwide for its large edible fruit, which is a berry with a hard rind and no internal divisions and is botanically called a pepo.
The sweet, juicy flesh is usually deep red to pink, with many black seeds, although seedless varieties exist. The fruit can be eaten raw or pickled, and the rind is edible after cooking. It is commonly consumed as a juice or as an ingredient in mixed beverages.
The watermelon leaves are large, coarse, hairy pinnately-lobed and alternate; they get stiff and rough when old. The plant has branching tendrils while the white to yellow flowers grow singly in the leaf axils and the corolla is white or yellow inside and greenish-yellow on the outside. The flowers are unisexual, with male and female flowers occurring on the same plant (monoecious).
The male flowers predominate at the beginning of the season; the female flowers, which develop later, have inferior ovaries, where the styles are united into a single column. Wild plants have fruits up to 20 cm (8 in) in diameter, while cultivated varieties may exceed 60 cm (24 in). The rind of the fruit is mid- to dark green and usually mottled or striped, and the flesh, containing numerous pips spread throughout the inside, can be red or pink (most commonly), orange, yellow, green or white.
Evidence of the cultivation of both C. lanatus and C. colocynthis in the Nile Valley has been found from the second millennium BC onward, and seeds of both species have been found at Twelfth Dynasty sites and in the tomb of Pharaoh Tutankhamun. Watermelon seeds were found in the Dead Sea the region at the ancient settlements of Bab edh-Dhra and Tel Arad.
Watermelons were being cultivated in Ghana, perhaps limited in its advance by summer temperatures being insufficient for good yields while European colonists and slaves from Africa introduced the watermelon to the New World. Watermelons were rapidly accepted in the worldwide and other Pacific islands when they were introduced there by explorers.
Watermelons were commonly grown by free black people and became one symbol for the abolition of slavery. After the Civil War, black people were maligned for their association with watermelon. The sentiment evolved into a racist stereotype where black people shared a supposed voracious appetite for watermelon, a fruit long correlated with laziness and uncleanliness.
Watermelons are plants grown in climates from tropical to temperate, needing temperatures higher than about 25 °C (77 °F) to thrive. On a garden scale, seeds are usually sown in pots under cover and transplanted into well-drained sandy loam with a pH between 5.5 and 7, and medium levels of nitrogen. 
Many cultivars are no longer grown commercially because of their thick rind, but seeds may be available among home gardeners and speciality seed companies. This thick rind is desirable for making watermelon pickles.
Nutrients
Watermelon fruit is 91% water, contains 6% sugars, and is low in fat. In a 100-gram (3 1⁄2-ounce) serving, watermelon fruit supplies 125 kilojoules (30 kilocalories) of food energy and low amounts of essential nutrients. Only vitamin C is present in appreciable content at 10% of the Daily Value. Watermelon pulp contains carotenoids, including lycopene.
The amino acid citrulline is produced in watermelon rind however watermelon flesh, raw is a delicious and refreshing fruit that's also good for you.
Watermelon contains two vitamins, high in vitamin C, vitamin A and many healthy plant compounds and are important for skin and hair health. Vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps prevent cell damage from free radicals.
Watermelon contains compounds that may help prevent cancer and may also lower your risk of heart attack and stroke by reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Several nutrients in watermelon have specific benefits for heart health.
Watermelon is a sweet, commonly consumed fruit of summer, usually, as fresh slices, diced in mixed fruit salads, or as juice. Watermelon juice can be blended with other fruit juices or made into wine.
The seeds have a nutty flavour and can be dried and roasted, or ground into flour. In Ghana, the seeds are eaten. Watermelon seeds are consumed as a snack.
Watermelon rinds may be eaten, but their unappealing flavour maybe overcome by pickling, sometimes eaten as a vegetable, stir-fried or stewed.

Belgium celebrated Saint Arnould, the Patron Saint of brewers by blessing a barrel of beer in a cathedral in Brussels.

Dressed in costumes and accompanied by a band, the knights of the ‘Brewer's Paddle’, or Belgian Brewers' Guild, marched from the city's iconic Grand Palace to the altar where the consecration ceremony was held.

According to the tradition, Saint Arnould was the son of a brewer and therefore learned the secrets of brewing at an early age.

Michel Tasnier, a member of the ‘Knighthood’ for 27 years, said: "It's a great moment of conviviality. Knights meet there, we forget about competition.

"The key word of this is the quality of beer, produced with knowledge and drunk with wisdom."

Production manager at Chimay Brewery, Xavier Pirlot, also spoke highly of the event, saying: "It's the day, the D-day of my year, of my brewing year," said Pirlot. "It's the opportunity for me to meet my colleagues and to celebrate our beer."

The ceremony was followed by ‘Beer Weekend’, an event gathering all brewers on the Grand Place to get the public to discover Belgium's best brews.