Table of Contents
Do cacao trees have leaves?
The leaves of the cacao tree are over six inches long. Like all deciduous trees, it loses its leaves annually. There are three common species of Cacao trees: Criollo (Central America), Forastero (West Africa and South America), and Trinitario (all cacao regions).
What is derived from the Theobroma cacao tree?
Cocoa, scientifically known as Theobroma cacao, is a small evergreen tree native to South America. Its seeds are used to make cocoa powder and chocolate. It is economically important as cocoa butter extracted from the seeds is widely used in the confectionery industry.
What is the morphology of cocoa?
The Vietnamese cocoa flower showed a diversity of morphological characteristics including five shapes of ligule (oval, broad, deltoid, elliptic and sub-lanceolate) and each stamen also has a bilobed anther with the exception of trilobed anther for TD11.
What kind of plant does chocolate come from?
Theobroma cacao tree
Chocolate is made from cacao, which comes from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree. (The Greek word Theobroma literally translates to “food of the gods.”) This species of tree thrives in tropical rainforests in Central and South America.
What are the benefits of cacao leaves?
It’s densely packed with iron, magnesium and antioxidants. Consuming cacao can help with issues such as depression, stress, blood pressure and heart health.
What is the difference between cacao and cocoa?
So, cacao powder is made from fermented beans that have not been roasted. The result is a powder that’s bitter in taste and higher in nutritional content. Cocoa powder on the other hand is made from beans that are both fermented and roasted, and then processed at a much higher temperature.
Why was chocolate called Theobroma cacao?
The name Theobroma cacao was first given to the cocoa tree by Carolus Linnaeus –the father of modern-day taxonomic plant classification. Theobroma comes from ancient Greek and translates as ‘Food of the Gods’.
What is the most important ingredient in chocolate?
Sugar. Sugar is a key ingredient to most chocolates. The amount used can vary greatly, but it can and is the main ingredient in many bars. Without sugar, chocolate can taste quite bitter, as roasted cocoa beans are not naturally very sweet.
Is it OK to eat cacao everyday?
Cacao is a top source of antioxidants packed with a full, unadulterated taste. Its high antioxidant and nutrient level makes it a healthy choice to incorporate into your daily diet.
Why cacao is bad for you?
Theobromine-enriched cocoa also impacts blood pressure. Eating raw cacao in excess could be dangerous. For instance, theobromine poisoning has reportedly caused heart failure, seizures, kidney damage and dehydration. Eating 50 to 100 g of cacao daily is associated with sweating, trembling, and headaches.
Why is cacao known as food of the gods?
An ancient Toltec myth identifies Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent god, as planter of the cacao trees in the tropics of southern Mexico. He was called “the god of light, the giver of the drink of the gods, chocolate.” Both the Mayas and Aztecs regarded chocolate as a potent aphrodisiac.
What are the varieties of cacao?
There are actually over ten varieties of cacao but most people consider there to be three main types: Forastero, the robust and most widely grown; Criollo, the higher quality but more expensive and finally Trinitario, the hybrid of the other two.
How do you grow cocoa trees?
Choose a planting location that offers partial shade. The cocoa plant thrives on the south side of most houses and buildings due to the extra heat the area produces. The cocoa plant can be placed beside fences or houses. Select a site that offers well-drained soil.
What is a cocoa bean plant?
The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant indigenous to the equatorial regions of the Americas. From the processed cocoa bean comes the fluid paste, or liquor, from which cocoa powder and chocolate are made.
What is cacao plant?
Cacao, or the cocoa plant, Theobroma cacao, is a member of the Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae) family of flowering plants. It is one of 22 known species in the Theobroma genus. T. cacao is a small plant that grows to about 4 to 8 meters in height (15 to 26 feet).