CHAPTER XVIII 



CACAO 



The Cacao Plant. Cacao is the name of a plant, Theo- 



broma Cacao, and of 

 some of the products 

 obtained from its seed. 

 Chocolate, which also 

 is 'yielded by these 

 seed, contains more 

 oil than does cacao. 

 The tree is a native of 

 tropical America. It 

 must have been in cul- 

 tivation fora long time 

 before the Spanish dis- 

 covered America, for 

 it was then found all 

 the way from Mexico 

 to southern Brazil. In 

 the same region are 

 more than twenty 

 other trees in the same 



FIG. 112. Healthy young cacao tree in the 



Philippines gCttUS ' the Seed of 



some of these is sometimes collected and mixed with 

 real cacao. 



168 



