Cocoa

Cocoa is the dried and partially fermented fatty seed of the Cacao tree from which chocolate is made. They are the basis of chocolate, as well as many Mesoamerican foods such as mole sauce and tejate.

Cocoa can often also refer to cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the dark, bitter cocoa solids. It may also refer to the combination of both cocoa powder and cocoa butter together. A cocoa pod has a rough leathery rind about 3 cm thick, but this varies with the origin and variety of the pod. It is filled with sweet, mucilaginou

s pulp called 'baba de cacao' in South America, enclosing 30 to 50 large almond-like seeds (beans) that are fairly soft and pinkish or purplish in color.

The Nib is the term for the center or meat of the cocoa bean. When ground, the nib becomes Chocolate Liquor (also known as Cocoa Liquor).