Seamus Blackley, a tech executive known best for inventing the Xbox game console, inspects his cacao trees. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times) There are technological and biological wonders inside the ...

Archaeologists have shed light on the origins of chocolate by tracing the spread of the cacao tree. A new study published in Scientific Reports found that the cacao tree, which grows cocoa beans, ...

Quality chocolate costs more for reasons that start on the farm but then build through labor, climate stress, and global ...

Cacao has long been a sought-after raw material for the worlds food industry. At first glance, it therefore seems surprising that biology knows little about the pollination of the cacao tree – ...

Gardeners who love chocolate may want to grow cacao and make their own chocolate. Cacao trees grow well here in Hawaii and with room for a small tree where it can have a shady overstory, it’s worth ...

The productivity of cacao trees decreases with time, forcing farmers to renew their plantations by either cutting down the old trees or establishing a new crop elsewhere. Frequently, new plantations ...

Cocoa is a swoon-inducing favorite confection, but there are a number of concerns regarding the production of the popular ingredient that are far from sweet. Outside of the food industry, cocoa’s raw ...

Seamus Blackley is best known for creating the Xbox game console. Now he has a new mission: to start a Los Angeles chocolate company. The challenge? Cacao trees don’t grow in the Southern California ...

The tropical tree, from whose seeds chocolate and other sweets are produced, has its secrets. Unravelling them is not so easy. Cacao has long been a sought-after raw material for the worlds food ...

You may think you know all there is about chocolate, but cacao beans are only part of the story. With a rich history, cacao ...