Cocoa Pod

I know I have skipped around a bit. These are some of my students anxiously awaiting a chance to suck on the seeds of a cocoa pod. Last Sunday when I went on that trip to Luna Park Carolle's brother-in-law gave us a ripe cocoa pod to take. They are green and turn yellow, just like bananas. It has a thin skin, with hard flesh-like a butternut squash- that surrounds a soft, white, brain-looking membrane that the cocoa seeds are in. It looks disgusting. The kids showed me how to pull one off and then suck on the seed, not chew it as the seed itself is bitter. It was so good! It was very sweet, like a fruit, not chocolately. Then I spat out the seed. I have other pictures of how the cocoa is laid out to dry.