Interesting Cocoa Facts

Who doesn’t like chocolate ice cream, chocolate cakes, chocolate candy bars! Everyone craves things in which chocolate is included. This is because it is made from nature’s tastiest ingredient, cocoa beans. The cocoa beans have added chocolate deliciousness to this world. Learn here all the interesting facts about these cocoa beans.

Where Are Cocoa Beans Found From?

Cocoa beans are found in tropical climates. As cocoa trees need hot and slightly wet weather to grow, they raise on trees that are close to the Equator. Cocoa trees started out in South and Central America around 100 million years ago. Today, cocoa trees grow in places like Cuba, Africa, and some Caribbean islands as well. Even though trees that grow Cocoa need heat to grow but they need shade as well. Too much direct sunlight is not quite suitable for the cocoa tree, so they are generally grown in the shade of other plants, such as mango trees or papaya trees.

What Do Cocoa Beans Look Like?

Did you know that cocoa trees produce orange fruit (or pods) the size of small pumpkins? So, if you unclutter the pod from the cocoa tree, you will see many little beans inside, sometimes as much as fifty. The cocoa beans are basically the seeds from the cocoa tree’s pods. Initially, the cocoa beans have a milky white color. If you ate them directly, they would taste very bitter and not delicious at all.

How Cocoa Beans Become Chocolate?

The beans of the Cocoa are first dried out. Some chocolatiers (people who make chocolate) dry the beans instinctively, but others put them on big trays to dry in the sun. As they are dried, they become brownish-red in color and are ready to go to the chocolate factory. The beans are roasted at the factory, and they start producing a rich, delicious chocolatey smell.