Kasapreko Company Limited is in the process of making considerable in-roads into the cocoa industry, the company’s marketing manager, Mr Andrew Akolaa has intimated.

As a beginning, he said, the company has outdoored its latest product, Kasapreko Cocoa Liqueur, a product whose almost instant popularity among the consuming public forecasts something great for the diverse use of cocoa in the foods and beverages industry.

Quality besides, Cocoa Liqueur has also earned instant fame for innovative packaging, having recently been awarded by the World Packaging Organisation (WPO) in conjunction with the Institute of Packaging Ghana (IOPG), said Mr Akolaa.

Kasapreko’s new-found fascination with cocoa is not without basis. The company acknowledges that cocoa, Ghana’s premier cash crop whose export potential is only next to that of gold, has sadly been offered very little local industrial attention, far less than it deserves.

With all the accolades notwithstanding, cocoa farming is still at the subsistence level. Ghana has no known commercial plantations of cocoa the way it exists in countries like Brazil and Ivory Coast. No wonder the Ivory Coast has unseated Ghana as the world’s top producer of cocoa.

Mr Akolaa said Kasapreko Company has long taken note of the fact that the bulk of cocoa Ghana produces is basically exported and consumed in the developed countries, and Ghanaians have added no real value to this gem crop apart from what Cocoa Processing and a few others have striven to do over the years.

Kasapreko, arguably the nation’s foremost blender of alcoholic beverages, and having pioneered research and packaging of traditional herbs into what many now know as the bitters market, it is only a matter of course that this major distiller will one day commission research into cocoa to feature prominently in the company’s new product developments.

The company thinks it is not out of place to contribute to farmers in Ghana who are individually and collectively adding an enormous quota to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) year after year, decade after decade.

It all started from the era of Tetteh Quarshie who probably had a divine inspiration to do something unbelievable. Today, Kasapreko has begun with a modest use of cocoa every month in the production of Cocoa Liqueur, and the use of cocoa in other product developments is only a matter of course.

Cocoa Liqueur is undeniably a quality product that has particularly taken the fancy of female and young drinkers because of the mild alcoholic base, the tonic effect and the amazing cocoa flavour.

As to the health properties of cocoa, they have been well-touted. Cocoa includes minerals like theobromine and magnesium and flavanoids which are a well-known antioxidant.

For those with cardio-vascular problems magnesium has always been recommended. With a strong heart (cardio-vascular system) ailments like high blood pressure (hypertension), stress-related diseases, fatigue (tiredness), menstrual products and lots more are brought under control.

Flavanoids are agents that retard the growth of cancerous cells, increase the strength immune system and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes.

Those who are sick with asthmatic conditions will find the theobromine in cocoa giving a more relaxing mode to the muscles of the bronchi to ease discomfort during asthmatic attacks, apart from fat burning properties.

Cocoa Liquor is manufactured with pure unadulterated cocoa so as to retain all the important properties that will benefit anybody who is health conscious but desires an enjoyable tipple without compromising his long-term health objectives.