At The Factory

From Bean to Bar 

Hundreds of pounds of fermented and dried cacao beans bundled in burlap sacks arrive at factories around the world everyday, ready to be turned into fine bars and cocoa powder. Over a period of about one to three days, the bean is transformed from tropical seed into treasured chocolate.

Roasting

After being cleaned, the cacao beans pass to the first critical step in flavor development at the factory: roasting. There are two main approaches to roasting: roast the beans for a short time at high heat, which produces a strong chocolate flavor but eliminates any subtle, floral notes and risks the development of charred flavors from over-roasting, or roast the beans for a long time at low heat, which allows the more delicate flavors to come through but sacrifices the big, chocolate flavor.

 

Winnowing — Getting Rid of the Shells

After roasting, the beans are put through a winnowing machine which removes the outer husks or shells, leaving behind the roasted beans, now called nibs.

Milling — Making Cocoa Liquor

The nibs are then ground into a thick liquid called chocolate liquor, which essentially is cocoa solids suspended in cocoa butter. Despite its name, chocolate liquor contains no alcohol.

Pressing — Cocoa Powder and Cocoa Butter

The processing now goes in a couple of different directions. Some batches of chocolate liquor are pressed to extract the cocoa butter, which leaves a solid mass behind that is pulverized into cocoa powder. The remaining cocoa butter is reserved to help in chocolate-making.  

Other batches of chocolate liquor are used directly to make chocolate.

The Beginnings of Chocolate

To make dark chocolate, chocolate liquor, sugar and other minor ingredients such as vanilla are mixed together and kneaded until well blended.

To make milk chocolate, milk and sugar are mixed together and then blended with chocolate liquor. This sweet combination of ingredients is stirred until the flavors are thoroughly combined.

 

 

 

Refining — Smoothing It All Out

After being mixed, both dark and milk chocolates go through the same process. The mixture travels through a series of heavy rollers which press the ingredients until the mixture is refined to a dry flake.  Additional cocoa butter and a small amount of emulsifying agent are added to the flake and then mixed to make a smooth paste ready for “conching.”

 

 

 

Conching — Kneading for Exquisite Flavor

Conching further develops flavor by putting chocolate through a kneading process. The conches, as the machines are known, have heavy rollers that plow back and forth through the chocolate mass anywhere from a few hours to up to seven days.

 

 

 

 

Tempering — Temperature Magic For A Perfect Product

The mixture is then tempered, or passed through a heating, cooling and reheating process. Tempering allows you to solidify chocolate in a way that keeps it glossy, causes it to break with a distinctive snap and allows it to melt smoothly in your mouth.

Moulding — We're Getting Closer

The mixture is then poured into moulds and cooled in a cooling chamber.

Finally — Something We Can Eat!

Once cooled, the chocolate is demoulded, packaged for distribution and is ready for savoring.