These cacao trees grow the all-important cocoa beans used to create chocolate. Fifty percent of the chocolate in the world originates from cacao trees in West Africa, notably Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana.

Selecting a tree: Cacao plants are produced by nurseries in Florida; however, make sure you choose a grafted tree. A plant that is not self-fertilizing may result in little to no pod production.

By Liz Kimbrough Scientists have uncovered a surprising find from the Amazon Basin: three new species of plants closely related to Theobroma cacao, the tree that gives us chocolate. This finding ...

Archaeologists have shed light on the origins of chocolate by tracing the spread of the cacao tree. A new study published in Scientific Reports found that the cacao tree, which grows cocoa beans ...

The productivity of cacao trees decreases with time, forcing farmers to renew their plantations by either cutting down the ...

A mature cacao tree can produce many thousands of flowers each year. These flowers are tiny, only a half inch or so in diameter (1 to 2 centimeters).

Frequently, new plantations are established in areas of the forest that are thinned out to accommodate new, young cacao trees. However, this comes with high economic and ecological costs.

In Hawaii, all varieties of cacao grow well. Hanna grows most of her trees from seedlings. It takes three to five years before the tree bears fruit and up to six months before pods are ready to be ...

Cacao has long been a sought-after raw material for the worlds food industry. At first glance, it therefore seems surprising that biology knows little about the pollination of the cacao tree ...

The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), whose beans (cocoa) are used to make products including chocolate, liquor and cocoa butter, may have spread from the Amazon basin to the other regions of South ...

A devastating disease is ravaging the cacao trees in West Africa, potentially putting the global chocolate supply in jeopardy, scientists have found. bit24 – stock.adobe.com ...