Origin: Thailand

Weight: 0.5kg to 0.6kg 

• Description
• Applications
• Storage
• Recipe

• Cacao pods are the raw product used to make chocolate and cocoa in their many forms. The Cacao beans are found within pods that grow directly out of the trunk of the Cacao tree. The bark of the tree is smooth and brownish-gray with leaves that are dark green and about the size of an outstretched human hand. The fruit, or pod, is oblong, between 4 and 12 inches long, ranging in color from yellow to orange to purple. Pods will contain 20-40 seeds which sit within a juicy, sweet-sour pulp. When ripe, the seeds rattle within the fruit when shaken. It takes 7-14 pods to produce one pound of beans. The flavor of the beans depends on variety as well as growing conditions such as soil temperature, sunshine, and rainfall.

• When the Cacao pods are ripe, they are cut open and the beans are allowed to ferment in order to be more easily separated from the shells. They are prepared for commerce by drying in the sun. Cocoa is the product of Cacao seeds being dried, roasted and ground into a powder. Cocoa is used in a myriad of culinary applications such as baking, chocolate bars, drinks, and other familiar dishes. It also has emollient properties and is used as an ingredient in cosmetics

• Cacao pods and seeds should be kept in a cool, dry place.

• Making Chocolate Out of Cacao Pods

  Ingredients:

  2-5 cacao pods
  Banana leaves
  Sugar
  Milk
  

  Instructions:

  1. Cut the pods in halves and take all the beans out from the pods.
  2. The next step is to ferment the beans and put the seeds in an airtight container lined with banana leaves so the beans wouldn't oxidize. The fermentation process is meant to cause the pulp covering the beans to drip off. Keep them in the container for 5 days covered with banana leaves, then check on the beans and keep fermenting them if needed.
  3. Dry the beans in the sunlight, it might take 3 days.
  4. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, for about 10 minutes. And roast the beans in the oven.
  5. After roasting the beans, the cacao nib was ready to be separated from the shell. The shell is very thin and easy to remove.
  6. Grind the beans with sugar, and you will end up with something that looks like cocoa powder.
  7. Then you can add milk and pour it into a mold and set it aside at room temperature. Then take it out of the mold.
  8. You can store it in the fridge.