Coca

Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to Southwest America.

The plant is grown as a cash crop in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, even in areas where its cultivation is unlawful. It also plays a role in many traditional Andean cultures as well as the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (see Traditional uses). Coca is known throughout the world for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. The alkaloid content of coca leaves is low, between 0.25% and 0.77%. This means that chewing the leaves or drinking coca tea does not produce the high (euphoria, megalomania, depression) people experience with cocaine. Coca leaf extract had been used in Coca-Cola products since 1885, with cocaine being completely eliminated from the products in or around 1929. Extraction of cocaine from coca requires several solvents and a chemical process known as an acid/base extraction, which can fairly easily extract the alkaloids from the plant.

Description

The coca plant resembles a blackthorn bush, and grows to a height of 2–3 m (6.6–9.8 ft). The branches are straight, and the leaves are thin, opaque, oval, and taper at the extremities. A marked characteristic of the leaf is an areolated portion bounded by two longitudinal curved lines, one line on each side of the midrib, and more conspicuous on the under face of the leaf.

Coca (disambiguation)

Coca may also refer to:

Coca (pastry)

The coca (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈkokə], Western Catalan: [ˈkokɛ]) is a pastry typically made and consumed in territories of Catalan culture.

The coca is just one way of preparing a dish traditionally made all around the Mediterranean.

Etymology

The Catalan word coca—plural coques—comes from Dutch during the Carolingian Empire, and shares the same roots as the English "cake" and the German "kuchen".

Similarities

There are many diverse cocas, with four main varieties: sweet, savoury, closed and open. All of them use dough as the main ingredient, which is then decorated. This dough can be sweet or savoury. If it is sweet, eggs and sugar are added, and if it is savoury, yeast and salt. As regards the topping or filling, fish and vegetables are usual at the coast whilst inland they prefer fruit, nuts, cheese and meat. Some cocas can be both sweet and savoury (typically mixing meat and fruit).

Types of coca

Coca is almost any kind of bread-based product. Its size can vary from 5 cm up to 1 metre. There are various presentations: