Plenty To Love In The Garden
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - What's inside that Valentine's Day heart full of candy? A box of chocolates is a lot like…a garden.
Chocolate itself comes from the seeds of a plant called Theobroma cacao. Vanilla is found in the seedpod of a special orchid - Vanilla planifolia. Sweetness and gooey caramels are made with sugar cane Saccharum officinarum and corn Zea mays – which both grow as tall grasses. And honey, is made by bees after foraging on …flowers!
For flavorings and fillings – mint is an herb, licorice is a root, coffee 'beans' are actually seeds, and peanuts grow as a legumes, like peas. Centers include fruits such as cherries, raspberries, oranges, and lemons; and nuts, like pecans, walnuts, almonds and coconut – which all grow on trees.
So, most of what's in a box of chocolates starts as some sort of plant. Plus there's butter and heavy cream… which comes from cows…who eat grass and clover.
Reported By Phran Novelli, KYW Newsradio
