Cacao pods. Courtesy of National Confectioners Association.The
fruit of the cacao tree is a football-shaped pod that comes in
various colors depending on genetics and degree of
ripeness—green, yellow, orange, red, purple or maroon.  The pod
ranges from eight to 14 inches long and grows directly from the
tree’s main branches and trunk, not from a stem like an apple
does. The pod’s outer covering can run the gamut from thin to
thick, soft to woody, smooth to leathery to warty to ridged.
Inside each pod is sweet white pulp and juice—which can be used
to make drinks with a sweet, mild flavor—covering 50 to 60
seeds.  Open cacao pods.   Before the pod can grow, however, the
tree’s flowers must be pollinated. These intricate pink or white
flowers appear on the tree’s trunk and main branches and are
tiny—only about half an inch across. They have no scent. Insects
such as a type of gnat called a midge pollinate them naturally,
or a farmer can do so by hand. Of the thousands of flowers on
each tree, only three to 10