Cacao – Cocoa Glossary and FAQs

The information below is comprised from a series of highly reliable chocolate industry resources and compiled by us. Have fun!

Cacao vs Cocoa –

Cacao is pronounced Ka-Kow.  Is this really what we know of today as cocoa?

The short answer is yes. But don’t stop reading just yet. How did the name change? Was it through error as is became Anglicized? Well, experts say that’s exactly what happened.

So what is Cacao?

The official name of the chocolate tree is Theobroma cacao or the ”food of the gods” and is the source of cocoa and chocolate. Cacao originated millions of years ago in the upper regions of the Amazon River Basin in what are now Peru, Ecuador, (more…)