Chocolate really does grow on trees
Chocolate really does grow on trees! Although not as lovely the chocolate bars wrapped to perfection that we know and love, it actually comes from cacao seeds that grow in tropical rainforests. Chocolate was originally made to be used as a medicinal drink and was actually savoury in the early days too, something chocolate lovers now would not even recognise! Today you can get chocolate in almost any flavour, colour and shape you can think of!
Today, cacao plants are cultivated in rainforest habitats throughout the tropics. Cacao trees thrive in tropical climates, with interestingly, a lot of shade! The average cacao tree produces up to two thousand pods a year. The pods produce a sweet white paste that is used in drinks, encased in the paste are the actual cacao seeds. The seeds, unlike the paste, are incredibly bitter, and pretty unpalatable. Not at all like the chocolate that comes from them. It makes you wonder how humans stumbled across making chocolate in the first place!
