General Question

Adina1968's avatar

Are Vanilla Beans & Cocoa Beans from the same plant "family"?

Asked by Adina1968 (2752points) April 14th, 2008

We are having a great debate. Are Vanilla & Cocoa beans from the same plant family? In other words is Vanilla a form of Chocolate or is it completely different?

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2 Answers

gailcalled's avatar

No. Choc. is the cacao bean (from a tree) and vanilla is a pod (weirdly from an orchid)

gailcalled (54647points)“Great Answer” (0points) Flag as…
Seesul's avatar

Vanilla is actually from the orchid family.

Cocoa Bean:
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Sterculiaceae
Genus: Theobroma
Species: T. cacao

Vanilla:
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Liliopsida
Order: Asparagales
Family: Orchidaceae
Subfamily: Vanilloideae
Tribe: Vanilleae
Subtribe: Vanillinae
Genus: Vanilla (Plumier ex. Mill., 1754)

Seesul (2960points)“Great Answer” (1points) Flag as…

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