Chocolate Making Process

Chocolate Making Process

Everyone loves chocolates. don't you?
Have you ever thought how the chocolate is made?
I'll be sharing the process of making chocolate right from the basics in this post..

Cocoa

Cocoa is the dried and fully fermented fatty seed of the cacao tree, from which chocolate is made. Cocoa beans come from Amazon and Orinoco rainforest  tree Theobroma cacao ( name was given by swedish botanist Carl von Linné ). This tree needs shade so usually grows under rainforest trees near rivers. About 3 or 4 thousand years ago cocoa tree was cultivated and spread out to central America. The tree grows up to 15 m height ( if cultivated only about 8 m to easier harvesting ).  Theobroma cacao can live up to 100 years. Cacao leaves are bright green, about 15 cm long and 8 cm wide. Stable temperature between 21 °C to 32°C is needed and a lot of rain during year. Cocoa tree grows worldwide in tropical forest within 20´ latitude of the equator.  Most important producers of cocoa are: Brazil, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Colombia, Cameroon, Cote D´Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria, Indonesia and Malaysia

Cocoa pods

 Flowers and pods grow exactly from the stem called Chupon or from main branches. A cacao pod has a rough leathery rind about 3 cm thick and is filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp called ‘baba de cacao’ in South America, enclosing 30-40 large almond like seeds (cocoa beans) that are fairly soft & pinkish or purplish in color. Seeds are 2 - 4 cm long and 1 - 2 cm wide. Main fruit seasons are in May and in October/November and in this time the crop is usually harvested. Each tree produces annually about 0,5 -2,5 kg of seed kernels. There are three main varieties of cacao: Forastero, Criollo & Trinitario. Forastero comprises 95%  of the world production of cacao & is most widely used while Criollo is the best quality of cocoa beans product & is considered a delicacy.

Manufacturing of Chocolate

Harvesting of cocoa pods

Fruits (cocoa pods) of cocoa tree grow all year around, but main harvesting season begins in October and continues into the beginning of the dry season. Cocoa is harvested also in March (beginning of other wet season ).

Cocoa pods are opened cocoa seeds are scraped out together with fruit pulp and loaded into baskets or boxes.

The seeds are left under protection of  banana leaves for 2 -6 days. Pulp starts to heat up and ferment. During fermentation sugars contained in the seeds are converted to acid. The process generate temperature about 50°C which kill the germ and activate the existing enzymes. The bitter taste of seeds is changed into typical chocolate flavor. 

When seeds get rich brown color, they are ready for drying. During drying cocoa seeds lose about 55% of weight. After drying, which takes one week, cocoa seeds are loaded into sacks and send to production sites. 

Cleaning / Blending

When seeds arrive to factory they are carefully selected and cleaned by passing through a bean cleaning machine that removes extraneous materials. Different bean varieties are blended to produce the typical flavor of chocolate of particular producer. Then the bean shells are cracked and removed. Crushed cocoa beans are called nibs.

Roasting

The beans are then roasted to develop the characteristic chocolate flavor of the bean in large rotary cylinders. The roasting lasts from 30 minutes to 2 hours at very high temperatures. The bean color changes to a rich brown and the aroma of chocolate comes through. The degree of roasting decides less or intense flavor and bitterness. This stage also helps to loosen the husk from the bean and prepare it for winnowing.

 Winnowing

The beans are cracked and the husks removed to expose the inner nib. The nib is the ‘‘meat’’ of the bean & is what is used to produce chocolate.

Grinding

The roasted nibs are milled through a process that liquefies the cocoa butter in the nibs and forms cocoa mass (or paste). This liquid mass also known as chocolate liquor has dark brown color, typical strong smell and flavor and contains about 54% of cocoa butter. 

Cocoa Pressing

Part of cocoa mass is fed into the cocoa press which hydraulically squeezes a portion of the cocoa butter from the cocoa mass, leaving "cocoa cakes". The cocoa butter is used in the manufacture of chocolates; the remaining cakes of cocoa solids are pulverized into cocoa powders. 

Mixing and Refining

Ingredients, like cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, flavorings and powdered or condensed milk for milk chocolate are blended in mixers to a paste with the consistency of dough for refining. Chocolate refiners, a set of rollers, crush the paste into flakes that are significantly reduced in size. This step is critical in determining how smooth chocolate is when eaten. 

Conching

Conching is a flavor development process during which the chocolate is put under constant agitation. The conching machines, called "conches", have large paddles that sweep back and forth through the refined chocolate mass anywhere from a few hours to several days. Conching reduces moisture, drives off any lingering acidic flavors and coats each particle of chocolate with a layer of cocoa butter. The resulting chocolate has a smoother, mellower flavor. 

Tempering and Moulding

The chocolate then undergoes a tempering melting and cooling process that creates small, stable cocoa butter crystals in the fluid chocolate mass and is deposited into moulds of different forms. Properly tempered chocolate will result in a finished product that has a glossy, smooth appearance. 

  

Cooling and Packaging

The moulded chocolate enters controlled cooling tunnels to solidify the pieces. Depending on the size of the chocolate pieces, the cooling cycle takes between 20 minutes to two hours. From the cooling tunnels, the chocolate is packaged for delivery to retailers and ultimately into the hands of consumers.