Theobroma cacao -- chocolate

I found one of the coolest fruits in the rain forest the other day: a ripe Theobroma cacao fruit! This is the same fruit that contains the seeds used in making chocolate.
Here are the fruits on the tree (the fruits grow directly on the trunk)

This pod is about 18cm in length (it’s pretty big!) and contains many large (1-2cm long) seeds covered in slimy white pulp.
What a lot of people don’t know is that the pulp (called an aril) is really delicious too and no, it doesn’t taste like chocolate. To me the aril tastes like a combination of a sour banana + pineapple + Monstera fruit (which is another fruit that people in the temperate zone might not know the taste of). Theobroma pulp is really good, but I like the pulp of its smaller-fruited cousin, Herrania, a little better.
I have never used the seeds to make chocolate, but I think it is a pretty labor-intensive process. I brought back some dark chocolate squares from the states (called Cacao Reserve) -- there are nice imprints of cacao pods on each chocolate. Hmmm...I saw 3 more fruits on a tree this morning and, if the squirrels and parrots don’t eat them all, I will be able to eat delicious cacao all week!

PS. I am actually eating the cacao pulp while writing this. Hee.