Is the cocoa pod a fruit

On small farms youll find trees populated with large colorful fruit although it wont look like anything youd find in the supermarket. The pods grow straight out of the trunk and branches as well as developing from a small proportion of the trees pinkish-white flowers.

The cocoa pod borer infests cocoa fruit at the developing stage Fig.

Is the cocoa pod a fruit. On small farms youll find trees populated with large colorful fruit although it wont look like anything youd find in the supermarket. This fruit is the cacao pod inside which grows the seeds that we ferment roast grind conch temper and mold to make our beloved chocolate bars. A cacao podthe fruit of the theobroma cacao treestarts off as a tiny flower and over the course of many months after its pollinated that flower gives way to a plump and colorful pod filled with seeds.

The fruit has a long growing season and even grows year round in some countries typically between 20 degrees north and south of the equator. A cocoa pod fruit has a rough leathery rind about 3 cm thick this varies with the origin and variety of pod. The Cocao plant is thought of as a fruit plant.

The bean itself is a seed and a seed technically is a nut. So it comes from the nut inside the fruit. The cocoa pod borer infests cocoa fruit at the developing stage Fig.

1216 females lay eggs on the surface of fruit and caterpillar bore into the pod due to their feeding habit pods are fully destroyed and sometimes attract the infection of fungi and bacteria resulting in the deterioration of fruit. The healthy cocoa pod Recently since the discovery of numerous health benefits associated with the consumption of eating cocoa pulp a thriving nutritional beverage industry has been created centred around cocoa health drinks derived from the pulp of the fruit. Within these cocoa pods will be multiple beans approximately the size of a coat button covered in a thick white pulpy flesh.

It is this thick white pulp which is sweet and tangy. The beans underneath are very bitter and can be dried and put to other culinary uses. Provides a good source of Calcium Copper Iron Magnesium Phosphorus Selenium.

The colour of the cocoa beans also varies widely Criollo seeds are white Forastero seeds are purple. If you cut the cocoa fruit you can find around 20 to 60 seeds which are about 2 cm wide and 1 cm long. They arent distributed loosely in the fruit flesh but arranged in 5 rows.

The fruit flesh the so-called fruit pulp or pulpa surrounds. Since cocoa trees are famous as a fruit plant and the pods as a leguminous fruit we can conclude that Chocolate comes from a fruit. However some sources consider it a vegetable also.

Nutritional Information of Cacao Seeds Cocoa has the right amount of B-complex vitamin which helps in increasing the metabolism and working of the nervous system. The Cocoa tree bears fruit on its trunk and branches. They are called podsThe pods contain seeds which are called cocoa beans.

The beans are made up of a seed coat a kernel and a germ. Cocoa needs a high temperature plenty of water and air that is always moist. Therefore cocoa is grown in the hot and humid regions of Africa mainly in forest regions Central and South America Asia and.

Harvesting the pods The trees start to bear fruits cacao pods when they are 3 years old. The pods grow straight out of the trunk and branches as well as developing from a small proportion of the trees pinkish-white flowers. A mature tree may produce 6000 flowers in a year yet only 20 pods.

The inside of a ripe cacao pod harvested in Colombia. The cacao beans lie inside the white pulp. Tijs Zwinkels via Flickr CC BY-SA 20.

Once a producer knows their crop is ready to harvest they hand-pick the pods. A s the pods ripen at different times a machete or a specialized knife harvests them instead of a machine. But The Cacao Fruit Company now uses 99 of each Cacao Fruit pod to fully deliver exceptionally nutritious ingredients to you.

Working directly with small farmers and co-operatives in South America and the Caribbean who harvest all natural non-GMO cacao fruit The Cacao Fruit Company has developed a gentle extraction process of the cacao fruit pulp and the surrounding cacao berry peel.