or cacao bean: a dried, fermented, fatty seed of the fruit of a South American evergreen tree (Theobroma cacao of the family Sterculiaceae) that is used in making cocoa, chocolate, and cocoa butter : cocoa bean
… polyphenols also make cacao beans taste astringent and bitter.—Patricia Gadsby
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or cacao tree: a tree having small yellowish flowers followed by fleshy pods from which cacao is obtained
Chocolate starts as the seeds in the fruits of the cacao tree, a tropical plant that produces flowers and fruit not at the tips of branches but on the trunk.—Kenneth Chang
The cacao tree is native to the tropical countries of South America, but now grows in other parts of the world, notably Africa, the West Indies, and Central America.—Joanna Morris
Illustration of cacao
cacao 2
Examples of cacao in a Sentence
a farmer who grows cacao
Recent Examples on the WebToday, the estate is flourishing, with almost four acres of plantains, breadfruit, coffee, cacao, grapefruit, avocado, and chayote squash, plus flocks of chickens and ducks.—Kathleen Squires, Travel + Leisure, 25 Nov. 2023 Some other friends join us and bring a 91% cacao chocolate bar and a tiny sample jar of apricot jam for us all to share.—Bon Appétit Contributor, Bon Appétit, 17 Nov. 2023 Blending high-cadmium cacao beans with low-cadmium beans grown elsewhere is perhaps the easiest way to decrease levels.—John Timmer, Ars Technica, 1 Nov. 2023 Crème de cacao comes in two types: White (distilled) or dark (sometimes distilled but definitely infused).—Jason O'Bryan, Robb Report, 28 Oct. 2023 These include cacao, Brazil nut, breadnut and Pará rubber trees, plus dozens of others.—Sarah Kuta, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Oct. 2023 Recipes are organized in chapters by ingredient — corn, rice, potatoes, poultry, yuca, plantains, beans, squash, cacao and more — to highlight the essential elements that tie the diversity of dishes and flavors together.—G. Daniela Galarza, Washington Post, 6 Oct. 2023 But the shop always has three standard flavors: a slightly salty, roasted pistachio; a dense, dark cacao; and olive oil, which is both bright and rich at once.—Jorge Valencia Mariano Fernandez, New York Times, 14 Nov. 2023 Laborde offered the example of cacao—the key ingredient in chocolate.—WIRED, 6 Nov. 2023 See More
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cacao.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
: the dried partly fermented fatty seeds of a South American evergreen tree (Theobroma cacao of the family Sterculiaceae) that are used in making cocoa, chocolate, and cocoa butter
called alsocacao bean, cocoa bean
2
: a tree having small yellowish flowers followed by fleshy pods with many seeds that bear cacao
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