Cacao pod

Cacao pod

The term Cacao pod refers to the fruit of cocoa.
The Cacao pod contains about 30-40 beans (called cocoa beans).
The fruit (also called cabossa) develops from the ovary in the shape of an elongated cedar, of yellowish-greenish color, which becomes reddish brown when ripe, with the skin furrowed by 10 longitudinal strips and can contain from 25 to 40 seeds; the seeds are immersed in a substance rich in sugars, clear and with a gelatinous consistency.

The weight of each Cacao pod is between 300 and 500 grams; it has a length of 10 ~ 15 cm and even more and a diameter of 8-10 cm. In exceptional cases this fruit can even reach 1 kg.
Only one flower out of a hundred becomes fruit: it develops in 5-7 months.
During the harvest, which generally takes place twice a year, the Cacao pod is immediately opened with a stroke of machetes and the beans are extracted from the pulp, to be subjected to the processing process aimed at obtaining cocoa.