Cocoa

Theobroma cacao

nuts & seeds · fruit

Beans of a small tree from the upper Amazon, fermented in their sweet white pulp and then dried: the basis of chocolate. Its flavanols are turned by the gut flora into protective compounds.

Origin

Amazon and Mesoamerica

Season (United States)

imported · all year round

Preparation

The powder is stirred into a little cold milk before the hot milk is poured in; roasted cocoa nibs are also eaten as they are. Alkalized cocoa (“Dutch process”, milder and darker) loses much of its flavanols. Non-alkalized keeps far more.

Molecules

Zinc · Magnesium · Copper · Tryptophan · PhosphorusIn small amounts, not counted Stilbenes (resveratrol) · Plant iron

Did you know?

Its genus name, Theobroma, means “food of the gods”: Linnaeus refused to give it a “barbarous name”.