Cocoa bean Cocoa bean The cocoa bean or simply cocoa (), which is also called the cacao bean or cacao (), is the dried and fully fermented seed of "Theobroma cacao", from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cocoa beans are the basis of the sweet food preparation called chocolate, and of such Mesoamerican foods as "tejate", a pre-Hispanic drink that also includes maize. The word "cocoa" comes from the Spanish word "cacao", which is derived from the Nahuatl word "cacahuatl". The Nahuatl word, in turn, ultimately derives from the reconstructed Proto
Madeira-Tapajós moist forests excelsa" and "Duckeodendron cestroides". At one time the endemic tree "Polygonanthus amazonicus" grew near Maués, the western limit for the emergent "Dinizia excelsa" and the eastern limit for the "Theobroma cacao". The Tapajós basin is the eastern limit of "Theobroma microcarpum". The "Physocalymma scaberrima" has red hardwood used by furniture makers. The montane forests of the upper Marmelos and middle Tapajós hold "Hevea camporum", "Euterpe longibracteata", "Huberodendron ingens" and "Brachynema ramiflorum". Further south in Mato Grosso there are forests in the transition between the Amazon and cerrado biomes. 183 species of mammals have been reported, including 90 bat species and