Cocoa comes from the seeds of the Theobroma cacao tree, which grows in tropical regions near the equator, especially in West Africa (Ivory Coast and Ghana), Southeast Asia, and parts of South America. The beans inside cacao pods are fermented, dried, roasted, and processed to produce cocoa mass (cocoa powder) and cocoa butter, the building blocks of chocolate. Key points

• Origin and tree: The cacao tree is native to the Amazon basin in South America and was cultivated thousands of years ago by pre-Columbian cultures.

• Primary growing regions: The majority of the world’s cocoa today is produced in West Africa, with Ivory Coast and Ghana together accounting for a large share of global production.

• Global distribution: While Africa dominates, significant production also occurs in parts of Central and South America, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean, with varying climates suitable for cacao being hot, humid, and near the equator.

If you’d like, I can pull up current figures on country-by-country production or map the main cacao-growing regions with a simple visualization.