Cocoa is a concentrated powder derived from chocolate liquor , a paste made from cocoa beans. These beans come from the cacao tree ( Theobroma cacao ), which is native to the equatorial regions of the Americas. The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree. After about four years, a mature cacao tree yields fruit in the form of pods. Inside each pod are the cocoa beans, which are covered with a sweet, sticky pulp. Once harvested, the beans undergo fermentation, drying, and roasting. The beans are then cracked and separated from their shells. Grinding the remaining nibs releases cocoa butter and forms a paste called chocolate liquor. Cocoa powder is made by pressing and pulverizing this chocolate liquor. Cocoa contains carbohydrates, fat, protein, and minerals, providing roughly 1,000 calories per kilogram. The theobromine and caffeine in cocoa create a mild stimulant effect.

Where does cocoa come from?

The cacao tree ( Theobroma cacao ) is native to the lowland rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. Its seeds, known as cocoa beans, are used to produce cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and chocolate. The tree is grown commercially in the New World tropics, West Africa, and tropical Asia. After about four years, a mature cacao tree yields fruit in the form of pods that range in color from bright yellow to deep purple. Each pod contains 20 to 60 cocoa beans. The beans are harvested, fermented, and dried before being processed. The cocoa bean was cultivated more than 3,000 years ago by the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples.

How is cocoa made from cocoa beans?

Cocoa production starts with harvesting ripe seed pods from cacao trees. The cocoa beans are extracted, fermented for up to seven days, and then dried to reduce moisture. After drying, the beans are roasted to enhance flavor and ease shell removal. Machines crack the shells and separate them from the nibs. Grinding the nibs releases cocoa butter, forming a paste called chocolate liquor or cocoa mass. This liquor can be pressed to remove cocoa butter, leaving cocoa solids, which are then pulverized into cocoa powder .

How is cocoa used in making food and drinks?

Cocoa is a highly concentrated powder derived from chocolate liquor , a paste made from cocoa beans. It serves as a key ingredient in chocolate and various chocolate confections. Cocoa powder, chocolate liquor, and blends of the two are used to flavor food products like syrups, toppings, chocolate milk, and prepared cake mixes. Bakers and manufacturers use chocolate as a coating for cookies, cakes, candy bars, and ice cream. Cocoa beans can also be crushed into nibs and used in salad dressings or as ice cream toppings, adding thickness to sauces or texture to cakes.

What is the difference between cocoa powder and chocolate?

Cocoa powder and chocolate both originate from the cocoa bean but are processed differently. Chocolate is made from ground cocoa bean kernels, resulting in a pasty fluid called chocolate liquor. This can be hardened to make bitter baking chocolate or mixed with sugar and cocoa butter to create sweet eating chocolate. Adding milk produces milk chocolate. Cocoa powder is made by pressing chocolate liquor to remove cocoa butter, then pulverizing the remaining cocoa cake. This process reduces the fat content and creates a concentrated powder. Cocoa powders may undergo Dutch processing, which alters the pH, color, and flavor.

How does cocoa farming affect the environment and communities?

Cocoa farming is typically conducted on small, labor-intensive farms due to the risk of pests and diseases, which can cause significant crop losses. These farms sometimes use agroforestry methods, integrating cocoa with other crops to provide shade and wind protection. However, cocoa crops are susceptible to diseases such as pod rots, which can be exacerbated by high humidity and insufficient sunlight, necessitating the use of fungicides and constant monitoring. Some common pests include mealybugs, true bugs, thrips, and scale insects. Research is ongoing to develop disease-resistant varieties and biological controls.

cocoa

Images & Videos

Chunks of natural cocoa butter on a wooden board, with a bowl of cocoa beans and scattered beans in the background.

A cocoa farmer in a sleeveless shirt holds a machete and displays an open cocoa pod with raw cocoa beans in a plantation in Kumasi, Ghana.

Hands opening a red cocoa pod on the tree to reveal clusters of soft, white seeds inside. Several whole cocoa pods hang from branches in the background.

Know about the MIT Laboratory for Chocolate Science dedicated to the science, history, politics, and economics of chocolate

A white woman bites into a chocolate bar.

cocoa

food

Also known as: cocoa powder

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History

Top Questions

What is cocoa?
Cocoa is a concentrated powder derived from chocolate liquor, a paste made from cocoa beans. These beans come from the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), which is native to the equatorial regions of the Americas.

The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree. After about four years, a mature cacao tree yields fruit in the form of pods. Inside each pod are the cocoa beans, which are covered with a sweet, sticky pulp. Once harvested, the beans undergo fermentation, drying, and roasting. The beans are then cracked and separated from their shells. Grinding the remaining nibs releases cocoa butter and forms a paste called chocolate liquor. Cocoa powder is made by pressing and pulverizing this chocolate liquor.

Cocoa contains carbohydrates, fat, protein, and minerals, providing roughly 1,000 calories per kilogram. The theobromine and caffeine in cocoa create a mild stimulant effect.
2 Britannica Sources
1. cocoa bean: Cultivation and processing
2. cocoa
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Where does cocoa come from?
The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) is native to the lowland rainforests of the Amazon and Orinoco river basins. Its seeds, known as cocoa beans, are used to produce cocoa powder, cocoa butter, and chocolate. The tree is grown commercially in the New World tropics, West Africa, and tropical Asia.

After about four years, a mature cacao tree yields fruit in the form of pods that range in color from bright yellow to deep purple. Each pod contains 20 to 60 cocoa beans. The beans are harvested, fermented, and dried before being processed. The cocoa bean was cultivated more than 3,000 years ago by the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples.
2 Britannica Sources
1. cocoa bean: Cultivation and processing
2. cacao
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How is cocoa made from cocoa beans?
Cocoa production starts with harvesting ripe seed pods from cacao trees. The cocoa beans are extracted, fermented for up to seven days, and then dried to reduce moisture.

After drying, the beans are roasted to enhance flavor and ease shell removal. Machines crack the shells and separate them from the nibs. Grinding the nibs releases cocoa butter, forming a paste called chocolate liquor or cocoa mass. This liquor can be pressed to remove cocoa butter, leaving cocoa solids, which are then pulverized into cocoa powder.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How is cocoa used in making food and drinks?
Cocoa is a highly concentrated powder derived from chocolate liquor, a paste made from cocoa beans. It serves as a key ingredient in chocolate and various chocolate confections.

Cocoa powder, chocolate liquor, and blends of the two are used to flavor food products like syrups, toppings, chocolate milk, and prepared cake mixes. Bakers and manufacturers use chocolate as a coating for cookies, cakes, candy bars, and ice cream. Cocoa beans can also be crushed into nibs and used in salad dressings or as ice cream toppings, adding thickness to sauces or texture to cakes.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
What is the difference between cocoa powder and chocolate?
Cocoa powder and chocolate both originate from the cocoa bean but are processed differently. Chocolate is made from ground cocoa bean kernels, resulting in a pasty fluid called chocolate liquor. This can be hardened to make bitter baking chocolate or mixed with sugar and cocoa butter to create sweet eating chocolate. Adding milk produces milk chocolate.

Cocoa powder is made by pressing chocolate liquor to remove cocoa butter, then pulverizing the remaining cocoa cake. This process reduces the fat content and creates a concentrated powder. Cocoa powders may undergo Dutch processing, which alters the pH, color, and flavor.
3 Britannica Sources
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
How does cocoa farming affect the environment and communities?
Cocoa farming is typically conducted on small, labor-intensive farms due to the risk of pests and diseases, which can cause significant crop losses. These farms sometimes use agroforestry methods, integrating cocoa with other crops to provide shade and wind protection. However, cocoa crops are susceptible to diseases such as pod rots, which can be exacerbated by high humidity and insufficient sunlight, necessitating the use of fungicides and constant monitoring. Some common pests include mealybugs, true bugs, thrips, and scale insects. Research is ongoing to develop disease-resistant varieties and biological controls.
1 Britannica Source
1. cacao: Cultivation
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.

cocoa, highly concentrated powder made from chocolate liquor—a paste prepared from cocoa beans, the fruit of the cacao—and used in beverages and as a flavouring ingredient. Cocoa is the key ingredient in chocolate and chocolate confections.

The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant indigenous to the equatorial regions of the Americas. From the processed cocoa bean comes the fluid paste, or liquor, from which cocoa powder and chocolate are made. Chocolate is sold directly to the consumer as solid bars of eating chocolate, as packaged cocoa, and as baking chocolate. It is also used by confectioners as coating for candy bars and boxed or bulk chocolates, by bakery product manufacturers and bakers as coating for many types of cookies and cakes, and by ice-cream companies as coating for frozen novelties. Cocoa powders, chocolate liquor, and blends of the two are used in bulk to flavour various food products and to provide the flavours in such “chocolate” products as syrups, toppings, chocolate milk, prepared cake mixes, and pharmaceuticals.

History of use

Cacao residues on pottery in Ecuador suggest that the plant was consumed by humans as early as 5,000 years ago. The tree was likely domesticated in the upper Amazon region and then spread northward. It was widely cultivated more than 3,000 years ago by the Maya, Toltec, and Aztec peoples, who prepared a beverage from the bean (sometimes using it as a ceremonial drink) and also used the bean as a currency.

Christopher Columbus took cocoa beans to Spain after his fourth voyage in 1502, and the Spanish conquistadores, arriving in Mexico in 1519, were introduced to a chocolate beverage by the Aztec. The Aztec beverage was made from sun-dried shelled beans, probably fermented in their pods. The broken kernels, or nibs, were roasted in earthen pots and then ground to a paste in a concave stone, called a metate, over a small fire. Vanilla and various spices and herbs were added, and corn (maize) was sometimes used to produce milder flavour. The paste, formed into small cakes, was cooled and hardened on shiny leaves placed under a tree. The cakes were broken up, mixed with hot water, and beaten to foamy consistency with a small wooden beater, a molinet, producing the beverage called xocoatl (from Nahuatl words meaning “bitter water”).

Too bitter for European taste, the mixture was sweetened with sugar when introduced to the Spanish court. Although Spain guarded the secret of its xocoatl beverage for almost 100 years, it reached Italy in 1606 and became popular in France with the marriage of the Spanish princess Maria Theresa to Louis XIV in 1660. In 1657 a Frenchman opened a London shop, selling solid chocolate to be made into the beverage, and chocolate houses, selling the hot beverage, soon appeared throughout Europe. By 1765 chocolate manufacture had begun in the American colonies at Dorchester, in Massachusetts, using cocoa beans from the West Indies.

Ceviche. Peruvian ceviche (sebiche). Raw seafood dish with lime, cilantro, peppers, plantains. Cuisine, food

Britannica Quiz

A World of Food Quiz

In 1828 C.J. van Houten of the Netherlands patented a process for obtaining “chocolate powder” by pressing much of the cocoa butter from ground and roasted cocoa beans. In 1847 the English firm of Fry and Sons combined cocoa butter, a by-product of the pressing, with chocolate liquor and sugar to produce eating chocolate, and in 1876 Daniel Peter of Switzerland added dried milk to make milk chocolate. The proliferation of flavoured, solid, and coated chocolate foods rapidly followed.

Starting in the Americas in an area stretching from southern Mexico to the northern countries of South America, commercial cacao cultivation spread around the world to areas within 20° of the Equator where rainfall, temperatures, and soil conditions were suitable for its growth.

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Cocoa bean processing

Harvesting

cacaoA cacao farmer using a machete to open a pod of raw cacao (*Theobroma cacao*) for inspection on a plantation in Kumasi, Ghana.

Harvesting of cocoa beans can proceed all year, but the bulk of the crop is gathered in two flush periods occurring from October to February and from May to August. The ripe seed pods are cut from the trees and split open with machetes. The beans, removed from the pods with their surrounding pulp, are accumulated in leaf-covered heaps, in leaf-lined holes dug in the ground, or in large shallow boxes having perforated bottoms to provide for drainage.

cocoa

History of use

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Cocoa bean processing

Harvesting