Cold Reads Practice

Chocolate starts its journey as seeds inside pods that grow on cacao trees. These trees grow in hot, rainy places near the equator, like countries in Africa and South America. Farmers harvest the pods and remove the seeds, called cacao beans. The beans are left to ferment for several days, which develops their chocolate flavor.

Next, the beans are dried in the sun, packed into bags, and shipped to chocolate factories. At the factory, the beans are roasted and ground into a thick paste called chocolate liquor. Sugar, milk, and other ingredients are added to make different types of chocolate. Finally, the mixture is poured into molds and cooled to create the chocolate bars we enjoy. It takes about a week from harvest to finished chocolate!