in #CASE you were curious about: Cocoa
December 13th is National Cocoa Day! Is there really anything better on a cold day than cuddling up in a blanket with a mug of hot cocoa?
The cocoa bean or simply cocoa, which is also called the cacao bean or cacao, is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted.
It takes 5 years for a cocoa tree to produce its first seed pods…and about 400 beans to make a pound of chocolate.
Chocolate has properties that combat Heart disease; thanks to flavanoids from the cocoa plant.
The ancient tribes, of the Mayan Indians, were the first to discover the wonderful enchanting properties of the cocoa bean around the year 600 AD.
Christopher Columbus, in 1502, was thought to have brought cocoa beans to King Ferdinand, during his fourth trip from the New World.
Cocoa was exported to Europe in 1585 but the first chocolate bar was not made until 1848.
The first chocolate house for the United States was established in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
Throughout the world the annual cocoa production is 3 million tons
Length of time required for a cocoa tree to produce its first beans (pods): five years
Watching your caffeine intake? An ounce of semi-sweet dark chocolate has only 20-milligrams on average, about the same amount as three ounces of brewed regular tea.