Make like a parrot and cacao!
We have always been amazed about delicious foods that can be found in nature. One of the most intriguing fruits has always been the cacao. Roasted seeds from a pod plant that can turn into delicious chocolate confections is truly a gift from the Gods.
We definitely started this exotic fruit journey with a lot of questions and a few mistakes. In addition to the transformation from plant to candy, we discovered this fruit had an edible flesh covering each bean.
Our biggest question became, “How do we get our hands on a cacao fruit!” Local grocery stores nor farmers markets carried the cacao and most of the online tropical fruit vendors only had a box of cacaos for about $200. There was even that famous “dangling carrot” that maybe you would get a cacao if you ordered a mystery fruit box for $150-$200.
After more research, we found an online company that offered a “build your own” tropical fruit box that allowed us to select what fruits we wanted and for a very fair price that included shipping.
Our first box arrived and we got a cacao pod — oh what a thrill! We received a postcard inside the box that said the cacao fruit was ready to eat. We immediately got a knife and cut into it. We quickly discovered that this cacao fruit was not ripe at all. We were very disappointed but determined to not throw in the dish towel just yet. We looked at each other and said, “Let’s order another one.” After more research, we read that the cacao is ripe and ready to eat when we can hear the cacao bean and flesh moving around the inside of the pod when shaken.
During our second try, we placed the fruit on the counter and checked it daily for that thud. A few days later we heard the insides rumbling but decided to leave it set for one more day to be absolutely sure it was ready.
When we cut the fruit open, it was perfect! We could clearly see that the delicious fruit portion of the cacao surrounded each bean, and the best way to eat it was to put the entire bean pouch in our mouths and scrape or suck the fleshy part from the bean. One important thing to note here is that you may want to discard the bean after eating the fruit. Eating raw cacao beans can actually make you sick.
The cacao fruit tastes like soft citrus and vanilla with a creamy texture — similar to a very ripe banana. We really loved the amazing taste of the cacao and would order it again. What an experience to be able to try this exotic fruit.
If you’d like to learn more about this incredible exotic cacao fruit, watch Heather and Jeff from Seagan Island cut into this beautiful wonder.
If you haven’t tried a cacao, or other tropical fruits you can’t find locally, we highly recommend you give Tropical Fruit Box a try! We order from them frequently and their customer service is amazing. They stand behind their freshness guarantee and their products. Use our code and save $15 on your first box!
Let us know if you have a favorite exotic fruit you’ve been wanting to try. We’ll research it, locate one and make a video about it. Leave your comments below and don’t forget to follow us on Instagram at #seaganisland for great seagan recipes, exotic fruit cocktails and more. We’ll “sea” you at the dinner table.
