cacao

[kuh-kah-oh, -key-oh] /kəˈkɑ oʊ, -ˈkeɪ oʊ/
noun, plural cacaos.
1.
a small tropical American evergreen tree, Theobroma cacao, cultivated for its seeds, the source of cocoa, chocolate, etc.
2.
Also, cocoa. the fruit or seeds of this tree.
Origin
1545-55; < Spanish < Nahuatl cacahuatl cacao seeds
Can be confused
cacao, chocolate, coca, cocoa, coke.
Examples from the web for cacao
  • Yesterday, the featured demonstration was about cooking-or rather, not cooking-with cacao.
  • There is no profit in going to such lengths to buy coffee or cacao, or other alternative crops.
  • Researchers are racing to fortify the embattled cacao tree and to meet increasing demand for cocoa made from its seeds.
  • Bananas, cacao and bee-pollinated crops are all threatened with collapse in part because of their monoculture management.
  • One dessert consists of coconut meat dipped in pungent chocolate that's been coaxed from the seeds of the indigenous cacao trees.
  • He's grown coffee and then cacao, working to help create a positive life for the people on the island.
  • First there was the native cacao tree, from whose fruit chocolate is made.
  • Before the end of the century the same drug would be found in kola nuts and cacao.
  • The city also has a rich tradition based around the numerous coffee, cacao and banana plantations.
  • Travel back in history to understand how the indigenous people take cacao and make it chocolate.
British Dictionary definitions for cacao

cacao

/kəˈkɑːəʊ; -ˈkeɪəʊ/
noun
1.
a small tropical American evergreen tree, Theobroma cacao, having yellowish flowers and reddish-brown seed pods from which cocoa and chocolate are prepared: family Sterculiaceae
2.
cacao bean, another name for cocoa bean
3.
cacao butter, another name for cocoa butter
Word Origin
C16: from Spanish, from Nahuatl cacauatl cacao beans

cocoa

/ˈkəʊkəʊ/
noun
1.
a powder made from cocoa beans after they have been roasted, ground, and freed from most of their fatty oil
2.
a hot or cold drink made from cocoa and milk or water
3.
  1. a light to moderate brown colour
  2. (as adjective): cocoa paint
Word Origin
C18: altered from cacao
Word Origin and History for cacao
n.

seed from which cocoa and chocolate are made, 1550s, from Spanish cacao, from Nahuatl (Aztec) cacaua, root form of cacahuatl "bean of the cocoa-tree."