The Cocoa Pod

Figure 1 illustrates a mature cocoa pod as it appears on the tree, often growing from the trunk. This variety is of an elongated cylindrical shape with ten furrows. In size, the fully grown pod is about six to ten inches long and three to four inches in diameter. Removal of a portion of the thick husk reveals the seeds inside which are covered with a pulp. (Figures 2 and 3) The oval-shaped cocoa beans are about one and a quarter inches long and vary in color from white to purple. Figures 4 to 8 are views of a seed and its cross-sections.

Dried and fermented cocoa beans usually weigh from one-twentieth to one-thirtieth of an ounce.