Cocoa (also sometimes cacao, pronounced 'ka-KOW') is the raw agricultural ingredient used to make chocolate. It is grown in various parts of the world along the equator, where humid temperatures and jungle-like surroundings provide ideal conditions for growing this colorful fruit. In shades of red, orange, yellow and green, cocoa pods sprout from the trunks of cocoa trees, and cocoa beans (seeds, actually) are found inside the pods where a delicate, sweet, fruity pulp surrounds the cocoa bean cotyledons (which later become nibs). Cocoa pods are harvested throughout the year as they reach optimal ripeness, normally from October though May.

Cocoa was first used to prepare various drink types as far back as 3,000 years ago. During these early times, when the Olmecs and Mayans took trees from forest gatherings to domesticate in their areas of influence, it appears they predominantly chose what is now known as the Criollo (Kree-O-yo) type of cocoa tree. However, we have no way of really knowing except for the locations of some very old trees.

Before it was cultivated, cocoa grew wild in Central and South America and may have been harvested and consumed sporadically. Successive cultures in what is now Central America used it for ceremonies, as a type of currency, and, to a degree, as a food.

When Cortez landed in Mexico in the early 1500's, cocoa was a prized agricultural product, although certainly not a staple of the Aztec or Mayan diet. It is probable, to the extent that cocoa was domesticated, that it grew in settings similar to its natural habitat. Later, as colonial powers brought cocoa to tropical regions around the globe, attempts were made to grow it on large plantations, rather than as a tree more integrated into the forest. These attempts failed almost universally because of disease, rapid exhaustion of the soil, political upheaval, or lack of properly skilled labor to produce cacao of reasonable quality. History has shown that small, most often family-run, farms of between eight and fifteen acres have been much more successful. Today, these constitute about 80 to 90 percent of cacao cultivation worldwide, the remaining 10 to 15 percent being made up of plantations of usually 100 acres or less.

Today, the three cocoa varieties — Criollo, Forastero, and Trinitario — tend to have more conceptual than practical value. Their utility lies more in demonstrating where cacao has been than where it is, because the names no longer correspond to pure genetic strains. Purity disappeared many hundreds of years ago as a result of cacao's penchant for spontaneous cross-pollination. Deliberate hybridization has also occurred on numerous occasions in the four hundred plus years of cocoa's history as a cash crop. This essentially means that any relationship between variety and flavor is so general that it is almost useless.

Several countries maintain living gene banks of cocoa strains. The challenge is that no consistent attempt has been made to create certifiable bean types on a commercial basis. Thus, when a label states that the cocoa variety of a particular bar of chocolate is Criollo or Trinitario, it is difficult, if not impossible, to calculate the significance of that claim. Manufacturers rarely boast about using Forastero cocoa, but most chocolates contain these beans and are quite good in quality. The ultimate danger in the careless use of labels, aside from the confusion it creates, is that genetic diversity may disappear before anyone realizes that its existence is at risk. When diversity departs, flavor goes with it.