Any chocolate lover can probably tell you that cacao is the most important ingredient in any chocolate confection. But not ...

As you nibble on a chocolate truffle or bite into a chocolate-dipped strawberry on Valentine’s Day, consider the elongated, ribbed pods of the cacao tree, which made that sweet treat possible.

The seeds, by contrast, are exceedingly bitter. It takes time and skill to turn them into chocolate. The flesh that surrounds cacao beans is delicious straight from the pod, but it takes talent to ...