Chocolate is a food product made from the fruit of a cacao tree (Theobroma cacao).
Raw, unprocessed chocolate tastes bitter and dry, but chocolate that’s been fermented, dried, and roasted, and had a bit of sugar and cream added to it, tastes divine.
People around the world enjoy the decadent flavor of chocolate on its own and in an enormous variety of foods. More than half of all the chocolate we consume comes from West African countries, primarily Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire.
Chocolate is derived from the fruit of the cacao tree, which grows exclusively in tropical climates. The cacao tree is native to Central and South America, but once European invaders discovered the delicacy in the 18th century, the popularity of chocolate took off and farmers soon established plantations in other parts of the world, according to the book “The True History of Chocolate,” by Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe (Thames and Hudson, 2013). Today, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Nigeria, Indonesia and Brazil account for around 80% of the world’s cacao production.