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Harvesting of cocoa pods
Fruits (cocoa
pods) of cocoa tree grow all year around, but main harvesting season begins
in October and continues into the beginning of the dry season. Cocoa is
harvested also in March (beginning of other wet season ).
Cocoa pods
are opened cocoa seeds are scraped out together with fruit pulp and loaded
into baskets or boxes.
The seeds
are left under protection of banana leaves for 2 -6 days. Pulp starts
to heat up and ferment. During fermentation sugars contained in the seeds
are converted to acid. The process generate temperature about 50°C which
kill the germ and activate the existing enzymes. The bitter taste of seeds
is changed into typical chocolate flavour.
When seeds
get rich brown colour, they are ready for drying. During drying cocoa seeds
lose about 55% of weight. After drying, which takes one week, cocoa seeds
are loaded into sacks and send to production sites. |
Manufacturing of chocolate
Cleaning
When seeds arrive
to factory they are carefully selected and cleaned by passing through a
bean cleaning machine that removes extraneous materials. Different bean
varieties are blended to produce the typical flavor of chocolate
of particular producer. Then the bean shells are cracked and removed. Crushed
cocoa beans are called nibs.
Roasting
The beans are
then roasted to develop the characteristic chocolate flavour of the bean
in large rotary cylinders. The roasting lasts from 30 minutes to 2 hours
at very high temperatures. The bean colour changes to a rich brown and
the aroma of chocolate comes through.
Grinding
The roasted nibs
are milled through a process that liquefies the cocoa butter in the nibs
and forms cocoa mass (or paste). This liquid mass has dark brown colour,
typical strong smell and flavour and cntains about 54% of cocoa butter.
Cocoa
Pressing
Part of cocoa
mass is fed into the cocoa press which hydraulically squeezes a portion
of the cocoa butter from the cocoa mass, leaving "cocoa cakes". The cocoa
butter is used in the manufacture of chocolates; the remaining cakes of
cocoa solids are pulverized into cocoa powders.
Mixing
and Refining
Ingredients, like
cocoa mass, sugar, cocoa butter, flavourings and powdered or condensed
milk for milk chocolate are blended in mixers to a paste with the consistency
of dough for refining. Chocolate refiners, a set of rollers, crush the
paste into flakes that are significantly reduced in size. This step is
critical in determining how smooth chocolate is when eaten.
Conching
Conching is a
flavour development process during which the chocolate is put under constant
agitation. The conching machines, called "conches", have large paddles
that sweep back and forth through the refined chocolate mass anywhere from
a few hours to several days. Conching reduces moisture, drives off any
lingering acidic flavors and coats each particle of chocolate with a layer
of cocoa butter. The resulting chocolate has a smoother, mellower flavor.
Tempering
and Moulding
The chocolate
then undergoes a tempering melting and cooling process that creates small,
stable cocoa butter crystals in the fluid chocolate mass and is deposited
into moulds of different forms. Properly tempered chocolate will result
in a finished product that has a glossy, smooth appearance.
Cooling
and Packaging
The moulded chocolate
enters controlled cooling tunnels to solidify the pieces. Depending on
the size of the chocolate pieces, the cooling cycle takes between 20 minutes
to two hours. From the cooling tunnels, the chocolate is packaged for delivery
to retailers and ultimately into the hands of consumers. |
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