Production : From Cocoa bean to Chocolate
A cacao tree with fruit pods in various stages of ripening. Roughly two-thirds of the entire world's cocoa is produced in Western Africa, with close to half of the total sourced from Côte d'Ivoire. Like many food industry producers, individual cocoa farmers are at the mercy of volatile world markets. The price can vary from £500 ($945) to £3,000 ($5,672) per ton, in the space of just a few years. While investors trading in cacao can dump shares at will, individual cocoa farmers cannot increase production or abandon trees at anywhere near that pace. When cocoa prices drop, farmers in West Africa sometimes cut costs by using slave labor. It has been alleged that an estimated 90% of cocoa farms in Côte d'Ivoire have used some form of slave labor in order to remain viable
Roasting
After careful sorting the beans are roasted at 120°C. This roasting process dries the beans and releases their flavour. This is a very important step: if the beans are roasted too long they may be burned but if the temperature is too low, bitterness and acidity will spoil the flavour
Crushing
After roasting, the beans are crushed into 2 to 3mm fragments. These pieces are called nibs. This process also allows the shell of the bean to be removed. It is at this stage that the chocolate-maker produces his blend. Most chocolates are made from a mix of beans, in order, on one hand, to combine the qualities of each, and, on the other hand, to guarantee a consistent level of quality. In this case the aim of the mix is to correct the taste differences due to the vagaries of weather. This blending gives a bouquet to the chocolate. Every cocoa bean has its own characteristics. The Cayenne bean contains a lot of cocoa butter; the Bourbon has a taste of wine; the Bahia brings robustness and the Sinnamary has a roasted smell.
First Grinding
The roasted beans, from different origins, now called nibs, are ground to become cocoa mass.
Mixing the Ingredients.
Certain ingredients have to be added to the cocoa mass (cocoa solid) before it can become chocolate :
Sugar: Sugar is indispensable as a flavour enhancer; on the other hand, in too large a quantity it could mask the qualities of the cocoa beans.
Cocoa Butter :A small quantity of cocoa butter is added in order to ensure a smooth ‘melt in the mouth’ texture.
In the case of milk chocolate, milk powder is also added.
White chocolate does not contain cocoa mass, so it is made by mixing cocoa butter, sugar and milk powder.
Finally, natural soja lecithin and natural vanilla are added, the first as a binding agent, the second, to blend the flavours.
Second Grinding
This process brings fineness to the chocolate. Our tongue allows us to detect a grain as small as 25 microns, Belgian chocolate is ground to 20 / 25 microns. This fineness is one of the reasons why Belgian chocolate has such a good reputation. If cocoa butter is required, this mass is squeezed by means of a hydraulic press; on one side cocoa powder is extracted, on the other, cocoa butter.
Conching
The finely ground paste is put in a conching machine. Worked for hours, it develops all its fineness and smoothness. This process allows the removal of any remaining bitterness and also gives the chocolate a characteristic velvety taste. The resulting liquid paste is now called chocolate.
Finishing
The chocolate is finished now, but it is still hot and liquid, so before using it the chocolate craftsman must get it ready. The chocolate is put on a marble top and worked so that its temperature is brought down at a steady rate. When the temperature is down to 30°, the chocolate is ready to be moulded or coated. The craftsman can now start to make chocolate tablets, bars, pralines or mouldings…
Chocolate as a Health Food
 There is growing evidence that, in small quantities, some kinds of chocolate may actually be good for you. Dark chocolate is naturally rich in flavonoids (or more specifically, flavanols, a sub-class of these antioxidants). These compounds are thought to lower blood pressure and help protect against heart disease—among other things. Recent studies conducted both in the U.S. and Europe seem to support chocolate’s beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system, encouraging at least one chocolate manufacturer to develop a proprietary method of processing cocoa beans, aimed specifically at preserving flavonoid content.
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