90 A Seed Takes a Bow
You probably remember that chocolate is made from cacao seeds. These seeds grow on cacao trees. Note that cacao (not cocoa) is the accurate spelling. The mistake in spelling was made a long time ago by English importers.
The word cacao comes from two Mayan words meaning “bitter juice.” The word chocolate came from another Mayan word meaning “warm drink.”
The cacao tree was first found in southern Mexico. In their wild state cacao trees grow up to 40 feet tall. But on a farm they are kept pruned to a height of about 15 feet.
Cacao trees require a mean temperature of about 80 degrees. They just cannot stand a cold or even cool climate. Another requirement is that they cannot stand direct sunlight. They seem to like such things as mango, rubber, banana, or breadfruit trees. For example, they are sensitive when young as they grow up in the shade of other trees.
The cacao seed grows in a pod that looks like a long cucumber. It can be 14 inches long. Pods do not hang on stems. They pop directly out of a bare trunk or cling to the bare branches.
When the pods are ripe they are cut open. Each pod contains 25 to 50 seeds or beans. On the average, they are about an inch wide. The seeds are then taken out and fermented. When cured, no tree clings to the seed. The yield, on the average, is one to two pounds of seed per tree. So you need many trees to satisfy the market. Most of the world’s cacao comes from small family farms. The biggest producers are Ghana in West Africa and Brazil in South America.
你可能记得巧克力是由可可籽制成的。这些种子生长在可可树上。要注意，cacao（不是cocoa）是正确的拼写，拼写错误是很久以前由英国进口商造成的。
“cacao”这个词来源于两个玛雅词汇，意思是“苦汁”。“chocolate”这个词来源于另一个玛雅词汇，意思是“热饮”。
可可树最初在墨西哥南部被发现。在野生状态下，可可树可以长到40英尺高，但在农场里，它们被修剪到大约15英尺高。
可可树需要平均约80华氏度的温度，它们无法忍受寒冷甚至凉爽的气候。另一个要求是它们不能忍受直射的阳光，似乎喜欢长在芒果树、橡胶树、香蕉树或面包果树等树木的树荫下。例如，它们在幼苗时期很敏感，要在其他树木的树荫下生长。
可可籽生长在看起来像长黄瓜的豆荚里，豆荚可以长到14英寸长。豆荚不是长在茎上，而是直接从光秃秃的树干上冒出来，或者附着在光秃秃的树枝上。
当豆荚成熟时，会被切开。每个豆荚含有25到50颗种子或豆粒，平均约一英寸宽。然后将种子取出并进行发酵。经过处理后，种子不再附着在树上。平均每棵树的产量是一到两磅种子，所以需要很多树才能满足市场需求。世界上大部分的可可来自小型家庭农场，最大的生产国是西非的加纳和南美洲的巴西。