Welcome!

Hello and welcome to this small corner of the internet that's all about chocolate and cocoa!

There's a surprising amount of information on cocoa and chocolate that not a lot of people really know about, so this webpage was designed to sate sate the curious mind and further inform people about this topic. The information here is sourced from various other places, and will be credited on the bottom of each page (image sources included).

If you'd like to learn some facts about chocolate, keep reading here! Otherwise you can check the history of cocoa/chocolate, as well as the health benefits of cocoa on the other pages of this site.

Enjoy!

What is Cocoa?

• Chocolate comes from the cocoa bean, produced by a tree.
• The tree that produces cocoa beans is the Theobroma Cacao, or "Food of the Gods". The tree was named by Carolus Linnaeus, the father of plant taxonomy.
• Cacao trees are very delicate, and farmers lose about 30% of their crop on average each year as a result.
• Each cacao tree produces about 2,500 cocoa beans on average.
• It takes 400 cocoa beans to make ONE POUND of chocolate.

Where does it come from?

• Most cocoa (~70%) comes from West Africa, with about 1.5 million cocoa farms in total there.
• Most farms are not owned by the chocolate companies.
• The average size of a cocoa farm in West Africa is 7-10 acres. These farms are typically small and family-owned.
• Cocoa-producing familis also harvest bananas and other fruits as a source of profit.
• Cote d'Ivoire produces ~40% of the world's cocoa, making it the single largest producer of cocoa in the world.
• The price of cocoa fluctuates daily, affecting the income of farmers and producers alike.

Some extra facts:

• It takes two to four DAYS to make a single chocolate bar.
• Cacao percentage determines the amount of cocoa bean products by weight in a piece of chocolate.
• Chocolate is not safe to eat for plenty of animals, including dogs and cats.
• Chocolate contains two doses of cocoa butter, the natural amount from the bean, plus an extra dollop to bump up creaminess.
• It takes 4-5 years for a cacao tree to actually start producing its first beans.
• The French celebrate April Fool's day chocolate-shaped fish known as "Poisson d'Avril"