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cacao

[ kuh-kah-oh, -key-oh ]

noun

, plural ca·ca·os.
  1. a small tropical American evergreen tree, Theobroma cacao, cultivated for its seeds, the source of cocoa, chocolate, etc.
  2. Also the fruit or seeds of this tree.


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
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Word History and Origins

Origin of cacao1

First recorded in 1545–55; from Spanish, from Nahuatl cacahuatl “cacao seeds”
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cacao1

C16: from Spanish, from Nahuatl cacauatl cacao beans
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Example Sentences

It’s very important to produce efficiently, because cacao products are commodities and the cost of production is the most important thing.

In 2010, we scaled up our cacao product output in a major way.

In the mountainous Talamanca region in the south, communities of Bribri and Boruca people live off the land, safeguarding many ancestral ingredients, while also growing cacao for wider consumption.

From Eater

As a chocolate maker in the 21st century, we carry the responsibility to correct some of the historical injustices which have taken place in the cacao industry.

From Eater

We would dream about someday being on a cacao farm and picking the beans to make chocolate, a dream our grandparents were never able to fully realize for themselves.

From Eater

These villages used to harvest rubber, cacao, palm oil, and coffee beans.

Add vodka, creme de cacao, buttermilk, three drops of red food coloring, and vanilla extract to a cocktail shaker with ice.

Mocha is the offspring of the marriage of two plain-looking beans: coffee and cacao.

Even so, some experts predict a global shortage of cacao beans as demand keeps growing.

I only wish somebody would pay me 10 a day for taking care of cacao, and I could leave literature to others.

They employ themselves in raising cattle, making sugar and honey, and extracting oil from the cacao fruit.

Corn-cobs they ground, mixed cacao with the powder, and baked the mixture on the fire.

Cacao forms an important article of food, both as a drink and as bread.

I bought what little cacao they had; the rest of their plunder they brought ashore and divided among our people.

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