Have you always wondered how the dark chocolate making process works? Actually, the making of dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate is the same until the blending step near the end, when extra items are introduced for milk chocolate, or the primary ingredient is removed for white chocolate. Here's how the process works, from start to finish.
Three types of cacao trees are grown within the tropical latitudes of Africa and South America. The Forastero is most common and robust, but with the least remarkable flavor. The Criollo is much more rare and delicate, but with a strongly flavored fruit. The Trinitario is a hybrid of the other two, with average yields and flavor.
These trees grow all year long, producing fruit in the form of pods. Mature pods will be an orange or red color, and will each contain 20 to 50 cream-colored beans.
The chocolate making process begins when skilled workers remove mature pods from the trees with machetes. The pods are gathered up and split open. The cacao beans and the fruity pulp of the pod are saved, and the husks of the pods are discarded.
FermentationThis combination of beans and pulp is left to ferment for several days. The fermentation process provides the beans with their distinct flavor, and gives them a darker brown color.
After the beans are fermented, they are dried for several days, generally by spreading them in a single layer and drying them in the sun. Alternatively, they may be dried with special indoor processes.
Ship BeansAt this point, the beans are packaged up, transported to markets, and eventually shipped to chocolate making factories throughout the world.
At the processing plant, the beans may be stored in carefully controlled areas until ready for processing. Next they will be inspected, then cleaned of any excess material, remaining pulp, debris, dust, sticks, stones, broken beans, etc. They will then be sorted according to their type, place of origin, and the manufacturer's unique formulas.
Next the beans are roasted for various lengths of time, depending on their type, size, and moisture content. This roasting is key to bringing out the distinctive chocolate flavor, color, and aroma, and results in dryer, darker beans.
After roasting, the beans are run through a winnowing machine that cracks the lighter shells and blows them away with a fan, leaving the pieces of the inner bean, called "nibs".
At this point in the chocolate making process the nibs are milled: crushed and ground into a thick, rich paste. This process produces enough heat from friction to melt the nibs into what is known as chocolate liquor (which simply means "liquid", there is no alcohol).
Some of the chocolate liquor may be pressed at this point, removing much of the cocoa butter, and resulting in a dry cocoa presscake. This presscake can be further ground into cocoa powder.
The chocolate liquor not diverted for pressing is now mixed, according to the manufacturer's unique formulas, with other ingredients such as additional cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla. The mixture is then sent through a series of refining rollers which smooth the texture.
This is where the chocolate is made uniquely into dark chocolate. As long as no milk is added to the chocolate liquor at this point, the result will be dark chocolate. If milk is actually added, you'll get milk chocolate. And if the ingredients list includes cocoa butter, but no chocolate liquor, then you'll get white chocolate.
Under very controlled conditions, the chocolate is now brought through several heating and cooling cycles to ensure the cocoa butter fats crystalize in exactly the right way. This results in chocolate with a very uniform and glossy texture, and with a very clean "snap" when broken.
That's It!The chocolate itself is done. It is now poured into molds, or otherwise included in its final products, and then packaged up and shipped out for sale.