The Process of Turning Cocoa into Chocolate...
1. Growing – cocoa trees are grown on small farms in tropical environments within a belt 10 degrees either side of the equator. The cocoa famers must protect the trees from the wind and the sun as they are a delicate and sensitive crop. The farmers must also be sure to watch out for attacks from pests and disease as well as properly
fertilizing the soil. It isn’t until around their fifth year that the trees begin to yield pods good enough for peak production levels, and this can then continue on for another 10 years.
Often, cacao trees are grown among other trees including banana, coconut or hardwood trees not only to shelter and shade the cocoa to protect it, by also to provide a diverse set of crops that the farmers can use to support themselves.
fertilizing the soil. It isn’t until around their fifth year that the trees begin to yield pods good enough for peak production levels, and this can then continue on for another 10 years.
Often, cacao trees are grown among other trees including banana, coconut or hardwood trees not only to shelter and shade the cocoa to protect it, by also to provide a diverse set of crops that the farmers can use to support themselves.
2. Harvesting – Most countries have two periods of time per year of peak production however ripe pods can be found on cocoa trees at any time as there is a continuous growing season in the tropics. The cocoa farmers used long-handled steel tools to enable them to reach and snip the pods without damaging the soft bark of the tree. Cutlasses are also used to remove the pods growing closer to the ground. A farmer, family members and neighbouring farmers all work together to collect the pods in baskets once they are dropped to the
ground.
ground.
3. Fermenting and drying – after being removed from the pods, the farmer packs the beans into boxes or heaps them into piles before covering them with mats or banana leaves. The beans are fermented by the pulp that naturally surrounds the beans. The fermentation step can last for 3-7 days and is an important step as it produces the chocolate flavour. After the fermentation the beans are dried in the sun which also usually takes another several days. During the drying process the beans lose more than half of their weight and their moisture is reduced from 60% to 7%.
4. Marketing –The farmer sells the beans after they have been dried and packed into sacks, to a buying station or local agent. The bags are then transported by the buyer to an exporting company where the cocoa is then inspected and bagged. The cocoa is then taken to the exporter’s warehouse near a port where sometimes some additional drying of the beans may be required. In some countries, farmers keep paper records of their transactions with the buyers and the records or passbooks are kept safe and treated like cash.
5. Packing and Transporting – The beans are loaded onto ships by the exporting companies and once the ship arrives at its destination, the cocoa is removed and taken to a pier warehouse. Cocoa can be stored in the warehouse in bags or bulk. The cocoa is often stored until the processor or manufacturer requests it.
6. Roasting and Grinding – the beans are thoroughly inspected and cleaned before the roasting begins. The inside of the cocoa bean is called the nib and depending on the preferences, the nib can be roasted alone or the beans can be roasted with the shell intact. The cocoa butter found in the nib melts by the heat generated and creates ‘cocoa liquor’. Cocoa liquor is solid at room temperature and does not contain any alcohol. The ‘liquor’ can be further refined and sold as unsweetened baking chocolate.
7. Pressing – The cocoa liquor is fed into a press that divides the liquor into cocoa butter and cocoa cakes which can be ground into a fine powder known as cocoa powder. White chocolate contains cocoa butter and no cocoa liquor.
8. Chocolate making (mixing, conching, tempering, moulding) – cocoa liquor is mixed with cocoa butter, sugar and in some cases, milk to make chocolate. Producers can add fresh, sweetened condensed or powdered milk for milk chocolate depending on the desired taste. The mixture is placed into ‘conches’ which stir and smooth the mixture under heat. The longer it is conched, the smoother the chocolate will be. Conching can last for a few hours-three full days or even longer. The liquid chocolate is then either tempered and poured into moulds for sale in blocks or shipped as it is in tanks.
9. Consumer –People around the world enjoy thousands of different forms of chocolate with more than 3 million tons of cocoa beans consumed annually. Each country still has their own different preferences and distinctive blends. The cocoa, chocolate and confectionary industry is a key user of other agricultural produces including sugar, diary products, nuts and fruits.