Cacao tree

The tree where chocolate grows

Chocolate grows on a tree! Cacao pods hang straight from the trunk — like a football, with 40 bitter seeds inside. The seeds are dried, roasted and ground to make chocolate. The ancient Aztecs used cacao seeds as money: 100 seeds = 1 turkey! They drank chocolate as a bitter drink.

Cacao (Theobroma cacao — 'food of the gods') comes from the Amazon rainforest and was domesticated 5,000 years ago in Ecuador; the Maya and Aztecs made the drink 'xocolatl', and the seeds served as money. Cauliflory — flowers and fruit grow straight from the trunk; the pollinators are 2 mm midges (Forcipomyia). A pod holds 30–50 seeds; fermentation (5 days) and roasting create the flavour. 5.5 million tonnes a year, 70% from West Africa (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana), though most chocolate is eaten in Europe. It grows within 20° of the equator, in shade. Threats are disease and warming; child labour is an industry problem. Cacao contains theobromine — poisonous to dogs.

Fun facts

• For the Aztecs, 100 cacao seeds = 1 turkey — chocolate was money!
• A 2 mm midge pollinates the cacao flower — no midge, no chocolate.
• Chocolate is poisonous to dogs — because of the theobromine in cacao.