source of chocolate

This interesting looking fruit is a cocoa pod, common in west Africa, but available from my local fruit stand.

Cut open the outside rind and find a mass of white coated pips. The locals eat only the white covering off and spit out the seeds.

However, the inside seed, while a bit bitter, is the source of chocolate.

I tried some of the seeds boiled in milk with sugar, just to see if hot chocolate can be made this way too.

It was OK, nothing to write home about (LOL). Learned later that the brown seeds are roasted and processed to make cocoa powder. Oh well, it was fun.