Question

How many beans each cocoa pod contains?
A) 10-15
B) 20-60
C) 30-50
D) 40-70

Answer 1

Hint: Each tree produces only 50-60 pods a year and only one pound of chocolate requires about 400 beans to make. The pod grows directly from the trunk and can reach a length of 4-12 inches. A number of colours such as red, yellow and purple ripen the pods.

Complete answer:
There can be substantial differences in the number of cocoa beans in a pod. Although the average number of cocoa beans in one pod is about 40, the actual number of beans may range from about 20 to 60 beans. Cocoa beans are the seeds of the cacao tree, the basis for making chocolate. They are found, surrounded by a sweet white pulp, within the cacao pods. There are between 20 and 60 cocoa beans in each pod. Around 20 pods are produced by each tree and each pod contains between 20 and 60 seeds or beans. Around 10 caps are required to produce one kilogramme of cocoa paste. Eventually, healthy mature pods will rot on the tree unless an animal or farmer picks them. They change from green or yellow to orange or red as the pods ripen.
Hence the correct answer is option ‘B’

Note: Estimates vary, but a two-ounce bar of 70 percent dark chocolate takes about 40 cocoa beans to make. Other estimates say that a pound of bittersweet chocolate will contain approximately 500 cacao beans - that's about 500g. The pods are harvested by hand individually, then sliced open to extract the seeds and surrounding pulp, which are collected for fermentation into piles. One employee can harvest about 1500 pods a day, enough to produce almost 120 pounds of bittersweet chocolate, while another employee takes a day to open those pods for fermentation.