Cacao pods, which grow directly from the trunk and branches of the cacao tree, contain seeds surrounded by a sweet-tasting pulp. (This photo of a cacao tree growing in Belize illustrates how ...

The surprising uses of cacao that go beyond chocolate Cacao beans have uses that go beyond being the base ingredient of our hot chocolate mixes or the traditional Easter treats to hide in the garden.

These pods did fall a little short of our picks in tackling hard, baked-on grease—the kind you might find on the side of a pan after months of using it to deep fry. This result isn’t that unusual.

The pathologists have examined at least 4,000 pods over the course of more than four years. “We’re studying the genetics of the plants and the pathogens to develop a prediction model capable ...