Cocoa beans or cocoa beans are the seeds of cocoa trees (Theobroma cacao) that have been through the process of fermentation and drying and ready to be processed. [1] Cocoa beans are the basic ingredients of making chocolate and traditional Mesoamerican cuisine such as tejate.
Cocoa fruit has a thick skin, about 3 cm. Its pulp called pulp is not used. This pulp contains sugar and helps the fermentation process of cocoa beans. Each cocoa contains 30-50 seeds. The seed color before the fermentation and drying process is white, and then turned into purplish or brownish red. Except for one varieties from Peru whose seed color remains white even though it has been through the process of fermentation and drying. [2] [3] Cocoa trees can be cultivated in the forest to make cocoa beans as non-timber forest products. [4]
