The Scoop on Chocolate

Food of the Gods

Like so many good things, chocolate comes from a tree—the cacao tree—which originated in the rainforests of South America.

The scientific name of the cacao tree is Theobroma cacao. In Latin, "Theobroma" means "food of the gods." Most people who've enjoyed chocolate would agree that the name fits!

Montezuma, emperor of the ancient Aztecs, certainly would. He was said to have drunk 50 goblets of chocolate each day!

Cool Beans

Photo: © World Cocoa Foundation

If you saw a cacao tree, the first thing you'd probably notice would be its pods. Roughly the size and shape of a football, the pods grow straight out of the tree's trunk and branches.

After ripening for up to 6 months, the pods are harvested by farmers who cut the pods down by hand.

The secret to chocolate is inside the pod.

Photo: © World Cocoa Foundation

If you opened one up, you'd find 30 or 40 purplish seeds inside, covered in a sticky white pulp. These seeds are called cacao beans.

The beans spend a week soaking in the pulp while their flavor develops and their color changes to a rich brown. When they've soaked long enough, the beans are dried in the sun, bagged up and sent to chocolate factories.

From Bean to Bar

Photo: © World Cocoa Foundation

After arriving at the chocolate factory, the cacao beans are inspected. The beans that pass the test are sent on to be roasted.

Much like with coffee, roasting the cacao beans brings them to just the right color, flavor and aroma.

The roasted beans are shattered and tumbled and ground into bits.

Photo: © World Cocoa Foundation

When melted, these become chocolate liquor, the main ingredient in chocolate.

Don't worry—despite its name, there's no alcohol in chocolate liquor!

Other ingredients, such as sugar, are added to the chocolate, which is then mixed, heated, cooled and reheated.

Finally, the sweet chocolatey mixture can be poured into bar-shaped molds. After cooling, the bars are wrapped and shipped out to stores.