Where Does Chocolate Come From?

Theobroma Cacao. That's the name of the chocolate tree. Theobroma is Greek and it means "Food of the Gods". In this instance, the pronunciation for Cacao is KA-COW. Once the fruit of the tree is processed into chocolate, the spelling and pronunciation changes to Cocoa, pronounced KO-KO.

The trees grow in the tropics within 20 degrees north and south of the Equator. Africa is where the most Cacao is grown. They produce about 70% of the world's Cacao. The trees grow best under the shade of larger trees, like banana trees, much like coffee. The trees produce approximately 2000 pods per year and each pod has 30 to 40 seeds in them. They range in color from orange to red, to yellow, to violet and are about the size of a small football. The picture to the left was taken in the Dominican Republic by Victoria Santos of The Sister Island Project.

The tree flowers prior to producing fruit pods. The pods or fruit of the chocolate tree extend directly from the trunk. This is different than most fruit trees. Most of us all know what an apple tree looks like. Can you imagine the apples growing directly out of the trunk?

The Cacao pods when left alone are eaten by monkeys and other forest animals. The sticky substance inside the pod is what the animals are after and they usually cast the bitter seeds aside. In this way, the animals help to re-populate the area with trees.

The pods are harvested by farmers and cut open by whacking the pod with a machete like object and then the seeds are removed and layed out in the sun to ferment and dry. Once this process is complete, they are shipped off to be sold to chocolate manufactures.