Plants for Food Chocolate Cocoa Tree Description of

• Plants for Food: Chocolate – Cocoa Tree

– Description of plant: – The Cocoa Tree is a deciduous tree that grows up to 15 m in height, and can live up to 100 years – Young cocoa leaves are large, red and glossy. Mature cocoa leaves are dark green – The flowers of the cocoa tree are tiny, have 5 -petals and are either pink or white. – The fruit of the cocoa tree grows as green or maroon pods on the trunk and main branches. The pods are shaped like stretched-out melons. When the pods are ripe they turn golden in color

– Environment: • This tree needs shade so usually grows under rainforest trees in the understory of the rainforest • The Cocoa tree is moisture loving, so they often grow near rivers • The trees require deep, slightly acidic soil • The cocoa tree requires stable, hot temperatures to grow – between 21 °C to 32°C and a lot of rain. • Is native to Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia, Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia and Malaysia

– Processing: Cocoa bean to chocolate • The beans of the plant are what is used to create chocolate • The beans are collected by hand are then inspected and cleaned. • The beans of a cocoa pod are spread out in the sun to dry. • Next the beans are roasted, shelled and crushed in a factory. • The inside of the bean is called the nib. Once the beans have been roasted and then shelled, the nib is ground into a paste. • A giant press is used to separate the cocoa butter (white chocolate) from the powder in the crushed beans.

– References • http: //www. worldcocoafoundation. org/learn-aboutcocoa/tree-to-table/growing. asp • http: //www. chocolatewrappers. info/cacao. htm • http: //www. thestoryofchocolate. com/Where/tropics. c fm? Item. Number=3300 • http: //www. xocoatl. org/tree. htm • Science Focus 7