When you cuddle up with a steaming cup of hot cocoa during these chilly fall days, you might be pondering where chocolate comes from?... Chocolate comes to us courtesy of the cacao plant! Cacoa is an evergreen tree that grows up to 40 feet in height and is hardy only in moist, tropical climates. Each cacao plant produces 60-70 pods, which mature in about six months from bloom. The pods resemble an elongated acorn squash, about 10-14 inches long. The hardened paste becomes baking chocolate. If the paste is heated to high pressure, cocoa butter is extracted and the remaining cake-like mass is ground into cocoa powder. To make chocolate bars or other candy, additional cocoa butter is blended with the paste, along with sweeteners. To make white chocolate, Cocoa butter is used without the paste.
The tasty secret of the cacao tree was discovered 2,000 years ago in the tropical rainforests of the Americas. The pods of this tree contain seeds that can be processed into chocolate. The story of how chocolate grew from a local Mesoamerican beverage into a global sweet encompasses many cultures and continents.
Several types of chocolate can be distinguished. Pure, unsweetened chocolate contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining chocolate with sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. European rules specify a minimum of 25% total dry cocoa solids for Milk Chocolate.
The tasty secret of the cacao tree was discovered 2,000 years ago in the tropical rainforests of the Americas. The pods of this tree contain seeds that can be processed into chocolate. The story of how chocolate grew from a local Mesoamerican beverage into a global sweet encompasses many cultures and continents.
Several types of chocolate can be distinguished. Pure, unsweetened chocolate contains primarily cocoa solids and cocoa butter in varying proportions. Much of the chocolate consumed today is in the form of sweet chocolate, combining chocolate with sugar. Milk chocolate is sweet chocolate that additionally contains milk powder or condensed milk. European rules specify a minimum of 25% total dry cocoa solids for Milk Chocolate.
- The West African country of Côte d'Ivoire alone produces some 1.4 million tons of beans a year.
- Ghana is the world’s second largest producer with over 600,000 tons per year.
- Other top cacao-growing countries include Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, Togo, Mexico and Papua New Guinea.
- Cacao beans are grown also in other Latin American countries and the Caribbean, but their share of the market is smaller.
