Chocolate Chocolate Process

The journey from the cacao tree to the chocolate bar is not complicated, but requires multiple steps, each of which involves careful attention to get the best possible finished product. Chocolate makers have perfected the making of chocolate after many centuries to give us the delicious chocolate that so many people around the world enjoy today. Chocolate companies often deal directly with cacao farmers, giving them a say in how the beans are treated from the moment they are harvested (Moss & Badenoch, 2009). Many of the specific processes that make a chocolate unique, such as temperature or roast time, are due to the chocolate maker’s special recipes, which have been thoroughly formulated, and most likely experimented through a lot of tastings. Although chocolate making methods vary between makers, this paper will focus on the general overview of how chocolate is made and the steps involved in the process.

The process of turning cacao into chocolate starts

This is the first step that is done by the chocolate maker rather than the farmer. The cocoa beans have a thin, papery shell around them, which need to be removed. When heated, the cocoa butter inside the bean expands, causing the shells to burst (Pech, 2010). The shells are blown away using fans, leaving behind pieces of pure cocoa bean, known as “nibs”.

The cocoa nibs are ground with rollers until they become a paste called cocoa liquor. This pure, unrefined form of chocolate contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter (Pech, 2010). Cocoa butter is extracted from the cocoa mass with a hydraulic press. Once the solids are pressed, they are pulverized into cocoa powder and used to make all types of products that involve chocolate (“How Chocolate Is Made,” 2016). Other ingredients such as sugar, milk powder, hazelnuts or other flavorings are then added to the chocolate. This allows chocolate companies to add their own unique flair to the finished chocolate