Cacao fruit grow on the trunks, rather than the branches of Theobroma trees. They are harvested all year round by carefully cutting them from the tree using a specialized knife, instead of a machine.

A close-up of an opened cacao fruit, next to cocoa beans and cocoa powder on a rough wooden table - wasanajai/Shutterstock ...

Katie Chan says a growing trend is the use of cacao fruit juice/pulp as a sugar alternative. "This replaces sugar with cacao fruit juice, which is fruity and tangy and less sweet," she says ...