Real Chocolate = cacao

So here I was interested in chocolate and then I started to learn about cacao.  The basis of real chocolate is cacao.  Cacao beans are not from Switzerland or Belgium or the US for that matter - they are from +/- 20 degrees of the equator in South and Central America, Asia, and West Africa.  Cacao beans are found inside of cacao pods, which grow on fruit trees. (Yes, cacao is a fruit!) Cacao pods are about the size of a pineapple, and it takes 400 beans to make 1 lb. of chocolate.  Theobroma, which is the scientific name for cacao trees, means “food of the gods” and rightly so.  Cacao has always been considered magical, mystical, special, traded, celebrated.  The history of cacao dates back to the 1500's when the Spaniards discovered cacao and brought the first beans to Europe to begin the chocolate production we know today.  At sweetriot we are excited to take people back to the cacao bean and back to its origin down South. 

Comments

[Nacho (Ignacio Lucini)]

Hola Sarah!
First of all CONGRATULATIONS and all the best with your new initiative.
Secondly, I was in Bruxes (Belgium) a month and something ago and went to the Museum of Chocolate (a place I suggest you to go for fun... plus Bruxes is amazingly pretty) and I became passionate about chocolate as well
Finally, It is great to hear from you again.

Nacho (Argentina)
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Visit me on my blog http://nacho.nomadlife.org