Chocolate Quiz #2

Cacao Trees and Cocoa Beans
The cacao tree, an evergreen, grows in the tropics, where there is evenly distributed rainfall. This allows for a year-round growing season, and ripe cacao pods, the fruit of the tree, are found at all times. When ripe, a pod looks like an elongated acorn squash with a colorful outer skin of greens, oranges, browns, tans, yellows, and reds, is 6 to 10 inches long and 3 to 4 inches in diameter. The tree has large, shiny leaves, which start out red and then turn green. Five-petal blossoms, pink or white, grow on the trunk and main branches only. The tree is very delicate with shallow roots and fragile limbs that cannot support the weight of the fruit pods, which like the blossoms, grow only on the trunk and strong main forks of the trunk. Each pod contains almond-shaped cocoa beans, that are 1/2 to 1 and 1/4 inches long, up to 1/2 to 3/4 inches across, and 1/3 to 1/2 inches thick.

1. Cacao trees are pruned down to about 20 feet in height to make harvesting easier. If left in their natural state, how tall would they be?
a) 30 feet
b) 40 feet
c) 50 to 60 feet
d) 75 to 100 feet

2. How many fruit pods per year does the average cacao tree yield?
a) 10-20
b) 20-30
c) 50-60

3. How many cocoa beans are in the average fruit pod?
a) 10-12
b) 20-40
c) 40-60

4. Fruit pods are harvested by hand.
a) true
b) false

5. The three main classifications of cocoa are Criollo, Forestero, and Trinitario. Which one is believed to be the natural hybrid of the other two?
a) Criollo
b) Forestero
c) Trinitario

6. After harvesting, the fruit pods are cracked open by the workers using machetes. What color are the cocoa beans inside?
a) dark brown
b) creamy
c) tan

7. How long is the fermenting process of cocoa beans?
a) Cocoa beans are not fermented, we're talking chocolate not wine.
b) 2 to 9 days
c) 2 weeks

8. How many cocoa beans are needed to make one pound of chocolate?
a) 23.7
b) 75-100
c) 400
d) 500-600

9. Which order of events is accurate when cocoa beans arrive at the chocolate factory?
a) storage, cleaning, roasting, cracking or crushing, shelling, blending, grinding
b) storage, roasting, cleaning, cracking or crushing, shelling, blending, grinding
c) storage, cleaning, roasting, blending, grinding

10. Cocoa butter makes up approximately what percentage of a cocoa bean?
a) 33%
b) 40%
c) 50%

Bonus Question

11. The illegal drug cocaine is made from the leaves of the cacao tree.
a) true
b) false


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