David Hofer, age 13, of Platte, South Dakota, for his question:

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COCOA AND CHOCOLATE?

Cocoa is the reddish brown powder made by grinding the kernels or nibs of the seeds of the cacao tree. The cocoa is melted and pressed to remove the fat. It is then ground and sifted into a powder.

Chocolate is a food that is also made from the seeds of the tropical tree called the cacao. Chocolate, however, is the cocoa mass with the fat left in.

The word cacao comes from two Maya Indian words meaning bitter juice. The word chocolate comes from two Maya words meaning warm beverage. lost of the world's cacao beans come from West Africa, where Ghana and Nigeria are the largest producers. Brazil is the largest cacao bean producer in the Western Hemisphere.