The lovely Cacao fruit

 The lovely Cacao fruit.

Do you know where chocolate comes from?

This, my dear reader is a cacao fruit.  Don't let its simple looks and brown spots fool you.  This is pure gold.

We use a handy butane tank to crack it open.

And look at what's inside!  Those white balls are the fruit.  The outer white covering is edible and delicious.  Not unlike leche fruit but sweeter not so sour.  

The white fruit is nice.  But inside...  Inside the fruity balls are the cacao seeds.  The stuff of legends.  The delicacy for the Aztec king.  The treasure the Spaniards brought back to Europe.  The source of chocolate.  The cacao seed.  Or what we will now refer to as the cacao bean.

My sister-in-law has the beans sitting out in the sun to dry.

continued HERE.