Chocolate Processing

Chocolate is a happiness that you can eat 

-Ursula kohaupt 

As the above quote mentioned everyone loves to eat chocolate whether it is in liquid form, bar form, crunchy form and many more. It is becoming a food partner for many people all around the world. When people feel sad, happy or angry they prefer to eat chocolates as it lightens the mood and brings happiness in mind and heart of the people. So here I am specifying the process of chocolate manufacturing i.e. how the chocolate is manufactured.

The chocolate manufacturing consists of 10 steps, out of these 10 steps 4 are done at the farm level and 6 are performed at the factory (processing plant) level.

Processes performed at farm level.

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Plantation: 

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Cocoa is obtained from the Cocoa tree, which is a perennial crop and it can withstand different season variation with good health and yield. The best requirements for cocoa plantation are altitude up to 1200m above MSL (Mean Sea Level), annual rainfall of 1000mm to 2000mm, the relative humidity of 80% with temperature ranging from 15℃ to 35℃.

Some countries where cocoa cultivation takes place are Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Ecuador, Cameroon, Brazil, Nigeria, Peru, India, Dominican Republic. Out of these Ivory Coast produces the largest amount of cocoa and supplies around 33% cocoa of the world.

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Harvesting:

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Cocoa is harvested from cocoa pods and each cocoa pods holds up to 20 to 40 cocoa beans. Cocoa pods are obtained from the trunk and branches of the cocoa tree. Harvesting is done by removing the ripe pods and opening them to obtain wet beans. All cocoa pods are not ripened at the same time so there is a frequency in which the harvesting is done. This frequency of harvesting has an effect on the yield of cocoa.
                                                  

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Fermentation: 

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The process is done inside fermenters to allow flavour precursors to developing. It is an important process as it has been stated that without fermentation there would be no flavour in chocolate. But one thing should be clarified- cocoa beans are not fermented.

Yeast, bacteria and enzymes ferment the pulp that surrounds the cocoa beans. The beans endure the heat, acid and enzyme effect from the fermentation of pulp and evolve both internally and externally. The whole process took a week.

Now the question arises where did these yeast and bacteria come from, well they come from environment as the white pulp is sterile inside the pods and as soon as they are opened the bacteria find a way to attach themselves with the pulp.

So fermentation is important to create the chemical compound associated with the flavour of chocolate.

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Drying: 

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After fermentation is done the cocoa beans are sent to dry in sunlight (sun drying), other drying methods can also be used for drying the cocoa beans. The moisture content of cocoa is reduced from 60% to 7.5 %. The process should be done carefully as off flavours might develop.

Drying should take place slowly, not too fast and not too slow. If it takes place too fast them some chemical reaction required for flavour development stops and a bitter taste remains. If it is slower than required then mould and off flavour might develop. Also, the temperature during drying should not exceed 65℃.

After drying process is completed the cocoa beans are loaded for transportation to the chocolate factories where the cocoa beans are finally converted into delicious, sweet, bitter chocolate.

Processes performed at the factory level.

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Roasting:

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After being received in the factory the beans are cleaned and send for roasting in big rotary drums. The rotary drums use the hot air for roasting the cocoa beans. The temperature used for roasting ranges from 130℃ to 150℃. During roasting the beans develop their typical roasting aroma along with a dark brown colour. Also during this process the beans moisture and microflora keeps on decreasing.

The whole process takes about 10 to 35 minutes. This depends upon the size and variety of beans. For example, the bulk cocoa beans require more roasting time when compared with fine or flavour cocoa beans.

After roasting the beans are cooled down and send for the next process.

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Winnowing:

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The beans are covered with the thin shell which gets loosen during roasting. It is necessary to remove this shell for further processing of cocoa to chocolate and for this we go for winnowing.

Winnowing can be defined as the process of removing the outer shell of the cocoa beans in a way which ensures that the nibs of the cocoa beans remains intact.

In big chocolate factories, huge machines are used for winnowing the cocoa beans. To separate the shells from the nibs, gravity and air separation is used. The nibs are much heavier than the shell so the air takes away the shell whereas the nibs settle down. In the winnowing process, 20%-25% of weight reduction is observed as the shell is removed from the beans.

The final product of the winnowing process is the cocoa nibs.

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Blending:

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After we get the nibs from different types of cocoa beans we blend them together according to the recipes of different chocolate factories. Blends are made according to the flavours.

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Grinding and Refining:

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In this process the blended beans are ground and turned into a paste which is called as unsweetened chocolate or cocoa mass.

The grinding process generates heat due to which the cocoa nibs turned into a liquid as high amount of fat in cocoa nibs melts. The cocoa liquor is a blend of cocoa butter and sugar. In the case of milk chocolate milk powder is used. All these blends are dependent on the manufactures recipes.

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Conching:

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Conching is a process of heating and mixing the cocoa liquor with the agitator and scrap mixer for several hours and days with the ingredient of chocolates such as sugar, flavours, etc. During conching, the chocolate is heated up to 49℃ to 82℃, during this heating the sharp taste of fresh cocoa disappear and also the acid and bitterness of cocoa diminishes and the delicious chocolate flavour came into being.

This conching process also defines the quality of chocolate as this process provides the final texture and flavour to the chocolate. The chocolate which underwent conching process for days produces mild, rich taste whereas the chocolate which went for only several hours of conching is low in quality.

This is the last step in chocolate manufacturing and the final product is the liquid chocolate.

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Tempering and Moulding:

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Now the chocolate has been produced the only thing left is to give it shape but before that tempering of the chocolate is done to have a uniform colour with nice texture.

The chocolate is heated and cooled for the tempering process.

After tempering of the chocolate this chocolate is moulded to have chocolate bars, candies, etc.

That's how your favourite chocolates are being made. The only difference is in blending and in conching which brings the difference in flavour and texture.

So What do you think... Chocolate manufacturing is not so difficult right.
        

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Thanks for reading
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