Cocoa beans are the primary ingredient in chocolate making, but have you ever wondered where these beans actually come from? Cocoa beans typically grow within 20 degrees of the equator. This distinctive growing region is commonly referred to as the “cocoa belt.”

What bean is chocolate made from?

The cocoa bean is the seed of the cacao tree (Theobroma cacao), a tropical plant indigenous to the equatorial regions of the Americas. From the processed cocoa bean comes the fluid paste, or liquor, from which cocoa powder and chocolate are made.

What is bean to bar chocolate?

“Bean-to-bar chocolate: A messy term without an agreed-upon definition. I define it as a chocolate made from scratch by one company, starting with whole beans. This usually includes buying, roasting, grinding, and refining the beans in a single facility.