Cacao
Theobroma cacao, Cacao family (Sterculiaceae)Cacao is a small evergreen tree, native to tropical South America. Cacao trees have flowers and fruits throughout the year. Underneath the bushy leaves, there are many tiny nonfragrant flowers growing directly from the tree trunk and branches. Cacao flowers are perfect flowers but they cannot self-fertilize (self-incompatible). They are pollinated by midges and occasionally by bats. The fruit of the cacao tree is called a cacao pod, which can be quite large. It takes many months for the pod to mature. Cacao pods turn from green to gold and eventually brown when mature. Each pod has 20–40 cacao beans, which are fermented and processed to turn them into chocolate products. These beans are very rich in fat (40–50% cacao butter). They also contains theobromine, a bitter compound that is similar to caffeine and is responsible for the mood-elevating effect of chocolate.
Cacao flowers
Cacao pod