Cocoa fruit. Historical illustration of the fruit of the cocoa tree (Theobroma cacao), the source of chocolate. The leathery yellow pods contain up to 100 beans (seen in the halved fruit at lower left) embedded in a soft pulp. The beans are dried, roasted and ground to produce cocoa powder or chocolate. T. cacao is native to Central America. From Mathematische und Naturwissenschaften, by Johann Geog Heck, 1860.