Cacao Versus Cocoa

The term cacao is used in the chocolate industry to indicate the tree Theobroma cacao, its cultivation, and the raw products that come from it. The name commonly used for the products made from the tree, once the cacao pod is opened and the beans are fermented, becomes cocoa—as in cocoa beans, cocoa butter, and so on. In this book, that guideline is honored, with one exception: when referring to a manufacturing process that may affect a number of different products (e.g., cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, cocoa powder), the term cacao is used to denote the range of cacao products that may be affected by that process.