Cocoa, Cacao, Chocolate
Description
Small evergreen tree usually 4-8 m tall, rarely up to 20 m with bushy crown. Leaves 12-60 cm long, elliptic to obovate-oblong. Flowers on trunk and branches on short branchlets in small clusters, white. Fruits indehiscent pods, variable in size and shape, 10-32 cm long, spherical to cylindrical, white, green or red, ripening to green, yellow, red or purple.
Ecology
It ranges from subtropical dry to wet tropical forest.
Distribution
Native to S America, now widely cultivated in the tropics, especially in W Africa.
Uses
Cacao seeds are the source of commercial cocoa, chocolate and cocoa butter. Fermented seeds are roasted, cracked and ground to give a powdery mass from which the cocoa powder is formed. Added to water, milk and sometimes sugar, it is a popular beverage. It is the main ingredient for chocolates and often incorporated into cakes and pastries.