Cocoa Bean

The Cocoa Bean, also called cacao bean, cocoa and cacao is the dried and fully fermented seed of theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and, because of the seed’s fat, cocoa butter can be extracted.The beans are the basis of chocolate. Cacao trees grow in a limited geographical zone, of about 20° to the north and south of the Equator.

A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough, leathery rind about 2 to 3 cm (0.79 to 1.18 in) thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod) filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp with a lemonade-like taste enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are fairly soft and a pale lavender to dark brownish purple color. To make 1 kg (2.2 lb) of chocolate, about 300 to 600 beans are processed, depending on the desired cocoa content.