Processing cocoa (Theobroma cacao) beans, East Malaysia
The cacao bean (also cocoa bean, also known as cocoa and cacao. Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty bean of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter are extracted. They are the basis of chocolate, as well as many Meso-american foods such as mole sauce and tejate. A cocoa pod (fruit) has a rough and leathery rind about 3 cm thick (this varies with the origin and variety of pod). It is filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp (called 'baba de cacao' in South America) enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are fairly soft and white to a pale lavender color. While seeds are usually white, they become violet or reddish brown during the drying process. The exception is rare varieties of white cacao, in which the seeds remain white. Historically, white cacao was cultivated by the Rama people of Nicaragua.
Size: 4736px × 3615px
Photo credit: © Scenics & Science / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: beans, cacao, chocolate, cocoa, east, malaysia, mayan, meso-american, processing
