Chocolate Fruit

The Theobroma cacao L. tree in the greenhouse bloomed in the fall and now has audacious fruit on it. It is a fascinating tropical. The blooms actually occur on old growth, so you get flowers actually bursting out of side of the main trunk of the tree. Then after a few months these large banana yellow pods (botanically a drupe I think) are ready. The pods are about 6-8 inches in length and 4-5 inches in diameter. The greenhouse manager and a couple of undergrads were going to try and make some chocolate. The process is pretty involved. You take the 'beans' out, ferment them, and then there is roasting and other steps involved. I estimate if they harvest all four pods on our young specimen they can probably make the equivalent of 2-3 Hershey's Kisses and probably enough cocoa butter to moisturize the back of one hand.