Cacao

CACAO (kah-kay’-oh). Common name in the tropics for the Cocoa or Chocolate-tree (Theobroma cacao). A native of Central and South America, it is extensively cultivated for its seed, the source of cocoa and chocolate.

A wide branched evergreen to 25 ft. it bears seed-pods to 1 ft. long and 4 in. thick with a hard leathery shell, containing up to 40 “beans,” some an inch wide. These are prepared for manufacture by washing and fermentation. Propagated generally from seeds, trees when 1 to 2 ft. high, are planted 10 to 15 ft. apart ; they bear in about 4 years.

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