cacao beans (chocolate beans)

The East Hawai'i Cacao Association will be presenting the 1st Hilo Cacao & Chocolate Festival on Saturday, April 14, 2018, at the Hilo Hawaiian Hotel located at 71 Banyan Dr. This free event to support and expand the growing and processing of cacao on Hawai'i Island as well as the tourism focus for ...

Arguably some of the most important seeds on the planet — they give us candy bars and hot cocoa, after all — come from pods created by dime-sized flowers on cacao trees. Yet those flowers make pollination just barely possible. Growers of commercial fruit crops expect 50 to 60 percent of flowers to make ...

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Craft chocolate — made with fine flavor cacao beans and valued for its distinctive flavors and high quality — is gaining a fast following, and research underway in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences is aimed at helping bean growers and bar makers benefit from this ...

The consumption of cacao is believed to date back to at least 1500 B.C., based on findings in the pottery belonging to the ancient Olmecs of southern Mexico. The Mayans and Aztecs both revered chocolate, consuming it as a bitter beverage that was integral to daily life but also used in high ceremonies.

In my previous article, I used the process of making fine chocolate as a metaphor for developing great employees. Just as the best artisan chocolate bars leverage the unique flavors and traits of indigenous cacao beans, organizations can get the best out of people when they maximize their individual ...

Cacao, which is native to South America, typically grows in humid tropical climates, within a band that stretches 10 degrees on either side of the equator, where temperatures range from 65 to 90 Fahrenheit. Hawaii, though, sits about 20 degrees north of the equator, right at the extreme edge of tree's range.

It takes three to five years for a cacao seed to become a fruiting tree. Each tree makes a limited number of seeds. And those seeds are not identical to the parent plant. The genes inside the seeds are a mix. Some come from the plant that grows the fruit. Others come from the tree that provided the pollen.

When shopping for good chocolate, one thing you should look for is the cacao percentage. This tells you far more about the quality and taste of a product than simple descriptions such as milk, semisweet, or bittersweet. Here's a quick guide to deciphering cacao percentages before you head out to do any ...

In this case, it's separated bits of the bean, packaged as cacao nibs. They can be purchased raw or roasted, and nowadays there are all sorts of uses for them – from easy snack to cupcake topper. They're not as sweet as chocolate, but they are loaded with antioxidants, especially if you eat them raw.

Chocolate comes from cacao beans, which come from the tiny flower of the cacao plant. Those plants are pollinated by even smaller flies called biting midges. For years, the flies have been the focal point of research by Samantha Jay Forbes, a doctoral candidate in agriculture and environment at James ...