If you're reading these words, there's a good chance you're no stranger to the taste of cacao - you may even be a gourmet of the products the cacao fruit provides us with. But do you know what journey the cocoa fruit goes through, from the moment it is picked to the production of chocolate-flavoured delicacies? This journey tells us a lot about the final result, although at first the cacao seeds bear absolutely no resemblance to the distinctive brown powder in appearance and taste that we so readily pour into warm milk or water. Nevertheless, the production of cacao has been known for centuries, perhaps even for thousands of years, and invariably starts with the same thing: the cacao fruit. And this fruit is a true wonder of nature!

The cocoa fruit - a natural wonder?

The cocoa fruit looks rather inconspicuous. It is oblong, resembles a small rugby ball, and its colour varies from yellow and green through brown to dark red or burgundy. On the surface of the fruit, one can see characteristic longitudinal grooves. Nothing in such a sight foreshadows what the cocoa fruit can become in the right hands. When the skin is cut open, large white seeds appear, arranged along the axis of the fruit as in a corncob. The seeds are covered with tasty white pulp [3], and an average fruit has from a dozen to several dozen such seeds inside. The cacao tree, on the other hand, grows enough fruit in a year to harvest half a kilo of beans. This is not much, so each seed that contains a cocoa fruit is worth the weight of… cacao!

Cocoa grows mainly in equatorial climates: hot and humid. These are countries such as Ghana, Nigeria or the Ivory Coast, as well as Ecuador or Brazil. The importance of cacao is evidenced by the very fact that cocoa cultivation is a source of livelihood for the vast majority of the population of countries such as Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana [1]. Returning to the fruit itself, which grows directly from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree [2], once the seeds have been extracted by hand - usually - from under the skin, the cacao beans are ready to be processed. And this is where the magic begins, which will transform the cacao fruit into an extraordinary delicacy.

Cacao fruit: from crop to bean

The white, almond-shaped seeds are just the beginning of the adventure. Here's how cacao beans give us delicious cacao. First, the beans are thoroughly cleaned, sorted and then fermented [2]. Then they are roasted - we can buy such roasted, unprocessed beans as an interesting snack to munch on during a movie. Only when the roasted cacao beans are ground can we speak of cacao mass or crumbs [4]. An important moment is still the skimming of the product and the preparation of cocoa butter - the direct substrate of chocolate and many cosmetics [2].
Ceremonial cacao is distinguished by the fact that it has not been defatted - it is a 100 per cent cocoa product, nutritious and calorific. In the normal process of cacao production, the fruit loses its natural fats and the addition of sugar and other substances to the chocolate reduces its nutritional value. For this reason, real cacao, ceremonial cacao, can be confidently recommended as a valuable dietary ingredient - with chocolates, even dark chocolates, you need to be a little more careful.

Cocoa fruit - price

Many people consider buying raw cacao fruit, which raises the question of the price of such fruit and whether cacao can be produced from scratch at home. Let's start with the first question: how much does a cacao fruit cost?
The price of a cocoa fruit - after all, an exotic fruit - can come as a blow to many. One cacao fruit costs around 100 zlotys, although there are slightly cheaper offers on the Internet. For fans of natural, primary products, we recommend roasted cacao beans, which, with their characteristic, slightly bitter taste, can make an interesting snack. It should be noted here that ceremonial cacao is also a low-processed product, especially when we compare it with standard cacao products such as chocolate. But what if, however, we are interested in making cacao at home? Is it possible to make your own cacao at home?

Producing cacao from the cacao fruit would be very difficult at home. The first steps of production, i.e. drying and fermentation, require special conditions, so we cautiously recommend making cacao on your own to start by buying already pre-processed, roasted cacao beans. There are recipes on the Internet on how to even make your own chocolate from such beans [5]. However, even if our dream of making our own cacao straight from the fruit has fallen through, the prepared cacao fruit remains an interesting decoration for the home that can remind us of this natural wonder that is cacao.

Cocoa - the miracle fruit

As we can see, the journey that cacao makes from plant to finished product on the shop shelf is a long and complex process. This makes it all the more important for us to appreciate the extraordinary qualities of ceremonial cacao, roasted beans, and all the chocolate products we so eagerly reach for. The next time you enjoy a hot drink with real cacao, think about how many factors went into making this wonderful, aromatic experience!