Did you know that chocolate comes from a tree? The cocoa tree grows big, colorful pods right on its trunk and branches that can be yellow, orange, red, or purple! Each pod is about the size of a football and is full of slimy white pulp with 30 to 50 seeds called cocoa beans hiding inside. The beans taste super bitter and not yummy at all until people work their magic on them. The word chocolate actually comes from an ancient Aztec word, and people in Central America were making chocolate drinks over 3,000 years ago!
Cocoa trees love warm, rainy places near the equator in countries like Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Ecuador. After the pods are cut from the tree, the beans are scooped out and left in piles to ferment for about a week, which helps them develop their chocolatey flavor. Then the beans are dried in the sun, roasted until they turn dark brown, and ground into a thick paste. Sugar and milk are mixed in to make the sweet chocolate bars, hot cocoa, and chocolate ice cream we all love to eat! It takes about 400 cocoa beans to make just one pound of chocolate, so every candy bar is a lot of work.
