The cacao tree grows at a height of 15 m and lives up to 60 years. It is an evergreen tree that requires temperatures of 25-28 ° C, 80% humidity, 1,500-2,000 mm / m3 of annual rainfall, a nutrient rich, well-drained soil, bleak conditions and a mild climate. It is native to the rainforests on the shores of the Amazon and Orinoco. From there, it was cultivated by the Mayans, the Olmecs and the Aztecs and spread through Central America and, subsequently, following the Spanish conquest of these areas, to other parts of the planet (in 1530, Hernán Cortés brought the first significant amounts of grains of cocoa to Europe, they were approximately 2 cm long, 1 cm wide and weighed approximately 1 g). For the Aztecs, the cocoa beans were of enormous economic importance (as a coin, a rabbit cost 10 grains of cocoa) and of great mythological significance. Proof of this can be found in the files of the Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, in Mexico. According to these files, the wealth of the Montezuma II National Treasury was estimated at 2,500,000 kg of cocoa beans (equivalent to approximately 1.25 trillion grains.In comparison, a chocolate bar contains approximately 35 grains).

Currently, the cocoa tree is in a strip of 3,000 km that extends on both sides of the equator. The main areas are Central and Western Africa, South and Central America, Ceylon, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Philippines. Cocoa butter is obtained by pressing the cocoa beans, which have a fat content of approximately 50-60%, (which is rarely used) or by pressing the liquid paste of cocoa previously roasted, ground and heated (the masses of cocoa that contain> 50% cocoa butter do not dry). The pressed residue is processed into cocoa powder and used as a raw material for products such as chocolate. Finally, the cocoa butter obtained in this way is refined.

At room temperature, the cocoa butter of pale yellow color, rough, with a faint odor of cocoa and a soft and distinctive taste, is formed mainly by palmitic, stearic and oleic acids and melts at approximately 36 ° C. Cocoa butter is used in the food industry for milk and chocolate fondant; it is mixed with cocoa mass as chocolate for confectionery (as a cover for cookies and chocolates) and, recently, it has begun to be processed in white chocolate. In the pharmaceutical sector, cocoa butter is used as a base for ointments and in the production of suppositories. The cosmetic industry uses cocoa butter for the production of lipsticks and hair creams.