Anne Elliott's photos with the keyword: chocolate is made from the beans

Cocoa Tree / Theobroma cacao

21 Sep 2011 195
This tree in the ENMAX Conservatory at the Calgary Zoo took me by surprise, when I noticed that the flowers were growing directly from the tree trunk and branches. "The flowers are produced in clusters directly on the trunk and older branches; they are small, 1–2 cm (1/2–1 in) diameter, with pink calyx. While many of the world's flowers are pollinated by bees (Hymenoptera) or butterflies/moths (Lepidoptera), cacao flowers are pollinated by tiny flies, Forcipomyia midges in the order Diptera. This is how your chocolate starts out, ha! The fruit, called a cacao pod, is ovoid, 15–30 cm (6–12 in) long and 8–10 cm (3–4 in) wide, ripening yellow to orange, and weighs about 500 g (1 lb) when ripe. The pod contains 20 to 60 seeds, usually called "beans", embedded in a white pulp. The seeds are the main ingredient of CHOCOLATE, while the pulp is used in some countries to prepare a refreshing juice. Each seed contains a significant amount of fat (40–50%) as cocoa butter. Their most noted active constituent is theobromine, a compound similar to caffeine. The scientific name Theobroma from Greek θεοβρῶμα means 'food of the gods'." From Wikipedia. What better name? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobroma_cacao