Chocolate has been available for countless years. It was first cultivated by Native American people as a invigorating beverage and later it was manufactured into chocolate bars which we all eat today. But what does it take to manufacture chocolate? Let explore chocolate's history and how it is manufactured.
First of all, chocolate is manufactured from ripe pods of cocoa beans from the Theobroma cacao tree. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations who cultivated the cacao tree as early as 600 BC named it "Food for the Gods" due to its godly taste.
Nowadays African countries harvest about two-thirds of the total world output; Ghana, Cte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Cameroon are the leading African cocoa famers. Most of the remainder comes from South American countries, chiefly Brazil and Ecuador.
Chocolate is very plentiful because the pods from the cacao trees are produced all year long. There are three types of pods and each have their own individual flavour, namely Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario.
Of the three, the most abundant among them is Forastero. Criollo conversely is very rare while Trinitario is a hybrid of Forastero and Criollo.
Cultivating the pods is usually done by hand with machetes. The farmers then crank open the pods to get to the cocoa beans. The pods are scraped to release the pulp and beans from inside the pods before they are left to ferment in baskets between 2 to 8 days.
The following step is fermentation. This is important since without it, the cocoa beans inside the pods would be too bitter to enjoy. After this process, the cocoa beans are laid out on a single layer to dry, frequently under direct daylight before there are boxed up and exported.
Now you know what farmers do, it is time to give details as to what the manufacturers do. Once the beans reach the factory, they are roasted and transferred to a winnower. This machine cracks the shell of the bean and leaves behind, what is called "nibs". It is these nibs which are used to make chocolate. The nibs are ground down and turned into a rich solid paste called chocolate liquor.
The liquor then undergoes one final process to remove the fat produced called cocoa butter which has an end product known as "cocoa presscake" or cocoa powder and from here, manufacturers decide what kind of chocolate to produce.
If the presscake is of low quality, this will have to be blended with other products like vegetable fats, sugar and artificial flavouring. If what they have is of high quality, then this will be blended again to the chocolate liquor and other ingredients like milk, sugar and vanilla before being moved to a conching machine.
The conching is considered to be the last step in the manufacturing process and this gives chocolate it final flavour and texture. The operating speed, temperature and length of this process has a lot to do with the final taste of the chocolate. Also, conching helps remove any acidic tones.
The chocolate is then eventually blended in a huge vat which in due course pours the chocolate into a specific mould. Once cooled the chocolate bars are then packed and are ready to be exported off to the consumer.
Now that you know what it takes to produce chocolate, or who invented chocolate you can begin to understand a little bit more about the process before you buy your much loved chocolate choice. Some chocolates are inexpensive while others are very costly and it all boils down to the type of cocoa tree used to make the final product.
First of all, chocolate is manufactured from ripe pods of cocoa beans from the Theobroma cacao tree. The Aztec and Mayan civilizations who cultivated the cacao tree as early as 600 BC named it "Food for the Gods" due to its godly taste.
Nowadays African countries harvest about two-thirds of the total world output; Ghana, Cte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Cameroon are the leading African cocoa famers. Most of the remainder comes from South American countries, chiefly Brazil and Ecuador.
Chocolate is very plentiful because the pods from the cacao trees are produced all year long. There are three types of pods and each have their own individual flavour, namely Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario.
Of the three, the most abundant among them is Forastero. Criollo conversely is very rare while Trinitario is a hybrid of Forastero and Criollo.
Cultivating the pods is usually done by hand with machetes. The farmers then crank open the pods to get to the cocoa beans. The pods are scraped to release the pulp and beans from inside the pods before they are left to ferment in baskets between 2 to 8 days.
The following step is fermentation. This is important since without it, the cocoa beans inside the pods would be too bitter to enjoy. After this process, the cocoa beans are laid out on a single layer to dry, frequently under direct daylight before there are boxed up and exported.
Now you know what farmers do, it is time to give details as to what the manufacturers do. Once the beans reach the factory, they are roasted and transferred to a winnower. This machine cracks the shell of the bean and leaves behind, what is called "nibs". It is these nibs which are used to make chocolate. The nibs are ground down and turned into a rich solid paste called chocolate liquor.
The liquor then undergoes one final process to remove the fat produced called cocoa butter which has an end product known as "cocoa presscake" or cocoa powder and from here, manufacturers decide what kind of chocolate to produce.
If the presscake is of low quality, this will have to be blended with other products like vegetable fats, sugar and artificial flavouring. If what they have is of high quality, then this will be blended again to the chocolate liquor and other ingredients like milk, sugar and vanilla before being moved to a conching machine.
The conching is considered to be the last step in the manufacturing process and this gives chocolate it final flavour and texture. The operating speed, temperature and length of this process has a lot to do with the final taste of the chocolate. Also, conching helps remove any acidic tones.
The chocolate is then eventually blended in a huge vat which in due course pours the chocolate into a specific mould. Once cooled the chocolate bars are then packed and are ready to be exported off to the consumer.
Now that you know what it takes to produce chocolate, or who invented chocolate you can begin to understand a little bit more about the process before you buy your much loved chocolate choice. Some chocolates are inexpensive while others are very costly and it all boils down to the type of cocoa tree used to make the final product.
About the Author:
Find out more about who invented chocolate and to get immediate access to my FREE email chocolate health mini-course, Extraordinary Health Benefits of Chocolate. Steve Campbell has a keen interest in chocolate, health and nutrition.
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