Process of Cocoa Beans to Chocolate

Harvesting the Cacao

Chocolate begins life as a bean from the cacao tree. Pickers use a cacao hook to remove the pods from the tree. A single pod holds only 20 to 40 individual cocoa beans, which workers scrape out by hand into piles. These piles of beans move into slatted containers known as "sweating boxes." These ferment the cocoa beans until juices drip down through the box. The fermented beans then dry, are washed and sacked for shipping.

Roasting and Creating the Liquor

Buyers of the dried, raw cacao beans must roast them before use. To maintain the unique aromatic properties of the cacao, roasting occurs for under an hour at 250 to 350 degrees F.
Once roasted and cooled, the beans move into a machine known as a "cracker and fanner," which opens the beans and blows the shells away from the inner cocoa nibs.

Grinding the nibs into a fine brown paste creates chocolate liquor. Composed of 30 percent cocoa solids and 55 percent cocoa butter, this creates the basis for all forms of chocolate.

From Liquor to Candy

Depending upon the desired end result, the chocolate liquor undergoes different processes. Most manufacturers separate the cocoa solids from the liquid cocoa butter. Cocoa solids pressed from the chocolate liquor become mixed in with additional cocoa butter, flavorings and sugars during a slow process of kneading, rolling and heating. This process is known as conching. Once mixed with additional flavoring ingredients, the chocolate cools and reheats during a final tempering. Tempering the chocolate improves its texture and appearance. The chocolate is poured into molds and solidifies as it cools.

Depending upon the manufacturer, chocolate might not be "real chocolate." To make an easier melting product, some companies combine cocoa solids with vegetable, soybean or palm kernel oil. Called "compound chocolates," "compound coatings" or "summer coatings," these do not require tempering when melted, but they lack the full, rich chocolate taste of "real chocolate." Real chocolate only uses cocoa butter as the added fat.

References

• Book: "The Science of Good Food," David Joachim and Andrew Schloss, 2008
• Book: "Cookwise," Shirley Corriher, 1997
• Book: "The Dictionary of American Food and Drink," John F. Mariani, 1994