What Are the Characteristics of a Cocoa Bean?

Whenever you eat a delicious bite of chocolate, do you know that you are consuming a product made from cocoa beans? Now that you know that fact, perhaps you would like to learn a bit more about the characteristics of cocoa beans.

Cocoa beans are little bits that eventually are harvested and used to produce delicious chocolate. General characteristics of cocoa beans include the following, as per IITA.

• They can be grown only within 10 degrees of the equator.
• Approximately two thirds of all of the world's cocoa beans come from Africa. 
• Cocoa beans have been referred to as "food of the gods," a phrase that was started by Linnaeus.
• Over 80 percent of all cocoa beans come from small farms.
• Cocoa beans come out of pods.
• 30-40 beans are found in each cocoa bean pod.
• Before the beans can be turned into chocolate, they need to be dried out.
• They are generally hard and look quite a lot like nuts.
• Cocoa beans are actually fruits.
• A cocoa bean does not taste like chocolate. Other ingredients have to be added to them in order to get the "chocolate" taste.
• The cocoa beans are surrounded by pulp in the pods.
• Many seeds are white in color.
• People sometimes refer to cocoa beans as "nibs."

Varieties of Cocoa Beans

However, according to the Chocolate Revolution, there are three different varieties of cocoa beans currently used for chocolate:

• Trinitario
• Forastero
• Criollo

Each of them have their own distinct characteristics, in addition to the general information that we just provided. Characteristics by variety of cocoa bean are as follows:

Trinitario

• These beans originally hail from Trinidad.
• Forastero and Criollo varieties were originally blended together to create this unique cocoa bean type. Therefore, this bean has characteristics from both of the other two varieties.
• This bean is known as a fine/flavour cocoa, and it is the most well known and most widely used variety.
• This bean is most likely to be found in the best types of dark chocolate on the market today.
• Trinitario beans are found in Papua New Guinea, Java, Sri Lanka, Venezuela, Ecuador, Samoa, and Cameroon.

Forastero

• These beans are much like the Robusta beans which are found in coffee.
• Forastero beans are originally from the Amazon. However, they are currently found in many places, including West Africa and Brazil.
• Amenolado is one of the subvarieties of this bean.
• Generally, Forastero is a bulk cocoa bean, meaning that it is not necessary used in the richest or priciest of chocolates.

Criollo

• Criollo beans are both fine and rare.
• These beans have a variety of flavors such as vanilla, nuts, caramel, and tobacco.
• They are reddish in color.
• Criollo trees do not put up strong fights against disease, dying quickly and reducing the crop production, which is a major reason why the beans are so rare.
• These beans have a bit of a bitter taste to them.
• They produce strong scents.

Now you know a decent amount of information about the characteristics of cocoa beans. If you'd really like to learn a lot more about where chocolate comes from, the production of chocolate, and chocolate in general, you should seriously consider a trip to a chocolate manufacturing facility such as the land of Hershey located in Deery, Pennsylvania.