Cacao? Who knew!

I've been so used to the spelling "cocoa" that I told my friend it's wrong to spell it as "cacao." But actually I was wrong. Even though cocoa is the most widespread spelling, the original spelling was cacao. Due to the widespread usage, both are used interchangeably and accepted as correct. However, linguists and chocolate experts would rather you stick to the more appropriate spelling according to the context of usage. Here's the breakdown:

Cacao: pronounced Ka-Kow. Refers to the tree, its pods and the beans inside.

Cocoa: pronounced Koh-Koh. Refers to two by-products of the cacao bean – cocoa powder and cocoa butter. Both are extracted from the bean when it is processed in the factory.

From: Cacao vs. Cocoa - Updating your Chocolate Vocabulary