Subject: Steps to Chocolate

Reaching full maturity for the pods requires 4 to 5 months, and another month for them to ripen completely. Throughout the year flowers are being pollinated and pods are ripening, there are actually two main times for harvesting cacao pods. Pods can safely remain on the trunk of the tree for several weeks, and can be stored safely for an additional week. In order not to damage the cushions (where the pods attach to the trunk and large limbs) harvesting must be done carefully. If the cushions are damaged they can no longer produce flowers and therefore fruit.

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After the beans and surrounding pulp have been extracted there are 4 steps that must be taken in order to produce the “nibs” (kernels) which will be ground into chocolate:

- Fermentation five to six days lowers the astringency (bitterness)

- On the first day, the seed and pulp go through complicated chemical and biological processes; the pulp becomes liquid and as the temperature steadily rises the liquid drains away.

- The beans germinate for a brief time (this is necessary to give the chocolate flavor to the finished product) then are killed by increased acidity and high temperatures.

- The beans must be turned occasionally as the temperatures increase.

- The temperature has risen by the third day, and stays between 113 degrees F and 122 degrees F, this temperature is maintained for several days (this also gives the chocolate taste to the finished product).

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- Drying on mats or trays in the sun is the traditional method, during this one to two week process the beans loose over half their weight.

- Roasting, or toasting lasts from 70 to 115 minutes in temperatures from 99 to 104 degrees celcius for chocolate and 116-121 degrees celcius for cocoa powder, these temperatures are mandatory to develop flavor and aroma.

- Winnowing is the process that removes the thin, useless shell from the bean, at this point the beans can be ground into a powder that is called cacao liquor.

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Regardless of the quality of technology these steps have been used for three thousand years and are stringently followed in modern processing.

Thank you,

Bill Anderson
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