4 Things you Should Know About How Chocolate is Made

Many people love binging on chocolate but are not aware of the steps involved in making it. Some people don’t even know that its main ingredient comes from a tree. While it is okay to enjoy the different flavors it comes with and to gift your loved ones with chocolate, there are basic things about chocolate making that are worth learning about. The following are top 4 things you should know about how chocolate is made;

The main ingredient is the cacao tree 

A lot of people have no idea of what chocolate is made from. While there are several misconceptions about chocolate, many people don’t even know that it is made from cacao. The cacao beans are removed from the pod then left in their pulp for about a week to ferment as well as gain their flavor precursors. Another reason for fermenting them is to ensure that the seed does not grow again as fermenting kills it.

Drying and roasting

After fermentation, the beans are dried then roasted before they are taken to the factory. By roasting them, the flavors precursors developed during fermentation are turned into flavor through a series of chemical reactions. Roasting also helps to puff up the beans which make it easier to remove the nibs from their shells. Also, roasting helps to kill bacteria that the beans might have collected after they are been removed from the pods. Roasting is one of the major stages of making chocolate because it greatly determines how the chocolate is going to taste.

Winnowing, grinding, and melanging 

The well-roasted beans then undergo winnowing to separate the shells and the nib. After the shells are removed, the nibs are ground to form a liquid that is also known as the cocoa liquid. This liquid is then put in a juicer that also helps to filter it. When the beans are ground to a fine consistency, they are transferred to a melanger where sugar is added to help kill its bitterness.

Tempering 

After melanging the chocolate, the final step to the final product is known as tempering, which includes several steps before packaging. First, the chocolate is melted because it solidifies while melanging it, then seed crystals are created in some portion of the chocolate in order to obtain the required molecular arrangement. This portion is then poured into a mold or parchment paper then covered to allow it to solidify. The final product is the candied chocolate products like the Santa Barbara Chocolate you buy from the store.

Bottom line 

The chocolate-making process is not as easy as you may have imagined it to be, and it takes a lot of handy-work as well as machine work to get to the final product. There are a lot of steps and processes that are required to come up with a differently flavored product. While there are countable chocolate companies known of, a few of them are famous for their unbeatable chocolate products.