Cocoa tree with a pod.Out of all of the flowers on the tree, only 3 out of 1000 flowers actually get pollinated to become the cocoa pod fruit. It takes about 5-8 months for the flower to blossom into the fruit and become a pod. Both the fruit and the flowers are on the tree all year long which is an oddity in the world of fruit producing trees. When you see the Theobroma cacao, you will be surprised that the flowers grow on the main stem, or trunk, of the tree. That?s the only place you?ll find them. The cocoa bean or simply cocoa which is also called the cacao bean or cacao ] is the dried and fully fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids (a mixture of nonfat substances) and cocoa butter (the fat) can be extracted. Cocoa beans are the basis of the sweet food preparation called chocolate, and of such Mesoamerican foods as tejate, a pre-Hispanic drink that also includes maize.