How is cocoa transformed into chocolate? Of course, there is a long process to go from the cocoa plant to those delicious chocolate bars you enjoy so much. Curious about how to get there? Let us summarise the process for you in this article!
How is cocoa transformed into chocolate? Let's start with the processing of the beans.
Obviously, the first step is taken by our cooperatives by harvesting cocoa from the plant and selecting the most suitable beans for this function. The next step is to break the cocoa and ferment the seeds for 5 to 7 days to bring out all the natural aromas.
The beans are then dried and the ones to be roasted are selected. Once the beans are roasted, they are shelled so that only the contents are left to be ground to make chocolate.
And from here... how do you get chocolate?
During the milling processcocoa liquor or paste is obtained, which is then pressed. When pressed, cocoa butter - which is the liquid part - and cocoa cake - which is the solid part - are extracted.
Then it will be time to start mixing the liqueur and cocoa butter with all the ingredients to make the chocolate.. Vanilla or sugar will be used to give a certain sweetness, and powdered milk if we want to make milk chocolate. Keep in mind that at this point the paste will still be granulated, so it will have to go through a cylinder grinder to obtain a more homogeneous mass.
Subsequently we have the conching processDuring this process, the chocolate is worked for days in the cellars to achieve the smooth texture we are looking for. First of all, we have dry conching: here we look for maximum friction to eliminate unwanted angles and roughness. Then there is the liquid conching in which cocoa butter and a natural emulsifier are added. Throughout this process, the paste is kept at a temperature of between 60 and 80º.
Finally, it is tempered - heated from a liquid to a solid state - and moulded into the familiar chocolate bar.
As you can see, the process is not simple, but it is definitely worth it! Now that you know how cocoa is transformed into chocolate, we have to ask you... what is your chocolate favourite?
- 15-04-20
