Cacao is what chocolate is made from. It is a tropical tree known as Theobroma Cacao, whose fruit contains the seeds that are used to make anything chocolate related, including ceremonial cacao. Chocolate is made by combining certain portions of cocoa powder (the de-fatted cacao) and cacao butter (the fat from the bean) along with other ingredients to get the consistency and taste we know as chocolate. We use the term cacao to refer to the pure product, with nothing added or removed. Cacao & cocoa are inter-changeable terms, but cocoa is often associated with cocoa powder, a defatted & denatured version of cacao, so we prefer the whole food term, cacao! Although do be careful, as some so-called health food companies have caught on, and now use cacao instead of cocoa, even though it has been defatted.