SEEDS & SPICES

Cocoa is the key ingredient in chocolate and chocolate confections. The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant indigenous to the equatorial regions of the Americas. Chocolate is sold directly to the consumer as solid bars of eating chocolate, as packaged cocoa, and as baking chocolate.

It is also used by confectioners as coating for candy bars and boxed or bulk chocolates, by bakery product manufacturers and bakers as coating for many types of cookies and cakes, and by ice-cream companies as coating for frozen novelties.

The biggest producers of cocoa are Ivory Coast and Ghana which together account for more than 60% of the world’s output. Other major producers include: Indonesia, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ecuador and Brazil.