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Where Chocolate Comes From
Where Chocolate Comes From
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"Theobroma cacao is a small evergreen tree that thrives only in a narrow, 20-degree band on either side of the equator. The trees sprout autumn-colored, football-like fruit that contain a gelatinous white pulp encasing almond-sized seeds we know as cocoa beans. After harvesting, those beans are specially processed—fermented, roasted, ground, and blended with various ingredients—to become chocolate. "
-Teresa Carr "The Bitter Side of Cocoa Production"
During the week of Valentine's Day, Americans eat about 58 million pounds of chocolate. West Africa is the origin of roughly two thirds of cocoa in the world.
Chocolate is produced from cacao trees, particularly from the seeds within the trees' fruit. Technically, 'cacao' refers to the raw chocolate components while cocoa refers to powder after processing, but these words can be interchanged. 'Cocoa beans' refers to the seeds after they are taken out of the fruit, fermented, and dried.
Cocoa Beans
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