My Explanation On How Chocolate Is Made

GROWING AND HARVESTING

Chocolate starts as cocoa beans, which grow in pods on trees, which grow in tropical heats of equatorial forests. It takes about 5-6 months for a cocoa pod to fully grow. Then they are ready to be harvested.

FERMENTING AND DRYING

Once the beans have been extracted from their pods, they are covered for 5-7 days to ferment. After fermentation they are left to dry in the sun for 6 days.

COLLECTION, SHIPPING AND COCOA LIQUOR

At collection centers, the beans are weighed and checked for quality before being put in bags and transported to other factories for processing. In the cocoa factories the beans are sorted, cleaned, dried and broken into nibs. The nibs are then roasted and ground into a very fine liquid mass. (The cocoa liquor) Cocoa liquor can then be further processed down into cocoa butter and powder.

MAKING CHOCOLATE

Depending on the chocolate recipe, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar or milk powder are combined. This mass is continuously kneaded in a process called conching, to give the chocolate its smooth texture. Other ingredients can be added before the chocolate is delivered, Either in liquid form, blocks, or even chocolate drops to customers all over the world.

I hope my explanation was helpful and interesting to you. Do you like chocolate? If so, what is your favourite flavour?