How chocolate is produced
Making chocolate is a delicate process. Below some background on how a cocoa bean turns into chocolate.
About cocoa trees and beans
Cocoa trees need a high degree of humidity, temperatures between 20 and 35°C, constant rain between 1500 en 2500 mm per year and a good fertile soil, at a maximum height of 600 m above sea level.
The cocoa tree is a delicate plant, which needs protection from sun and wind. Protection from these elements is provided by planting banana trees around and in the cocoa fields. It takes 5 - 7 years before a young tree yields its first harvest. Cocoa trees have a height of 10-15 meters and yield 40 to 50 "pods" (15-25cm each) twice a year, between October and March. Each pod yields 30 to 50 beans.
Cocoa beans consist half of fat and half of non-fat solids. Only two products are ultimately derived from cocoa beans: chocolate and cocoa powder. The quality and the flavour of chocolate and cocoa powder depend on the blend of various beans. This is the Chocolatier’s Secret.
Cocoa producing countries
The most important cocoa fields are located on both sides of the equator and within 20 degrees Northern and Southern latitudes. In Africa, the main producing countries are the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon. In South America Brazil is by far the main producer. In Asia, Malaysia has become a major cocoa producer.
Processing cocoa beans
The first step in the production of chocolate is the selection of the cocoa beans required to produce the type of chocolate in question. Much of the final flavour of the chocolate depends on the right selection and blending of the beans.
In processing cocoa three steps are particularly important:
- Roasting and grinding to produce cocoa mass
- Pressing and alkalizing to produce cocoa powder
- Refining and mixing to produce chocolate
The liquid chocolate that this three-step process produces, is the base of all quality chocolate products shaped at Steenland Chocolate.
This process was developed in the 19th century and more than a century later, has not essentially changed. Developments and innovations mainly serve to perfect existing techniques, scale up production and automate the process.
Cleaning and de-shelling raw cocoa beans
As beans usually arrive at the factory with considerable admixture of foreign matter, such as clay, dust and stones, the beans are first cleaned and graded. As the beans are cleaned, the outside shell is broken, yielding the cocoa kernel, which is the only part usable for cocoa production.
Roasting the clean cocoa kernels
Roasting is a delicate process which creates the chocolate aroma. The degree of roasting is extremely important. Roasting too much destroys the natural flavour of the cocoa bean, producing a bitter product. On the other hand, roasting too little does not eradicate the bitterness of the raw beans.
To affect the taste and colour, the beans are treated with potassium carbonate under various temperatures (ranging from 50 to100°C). This procedure reduces the amount of acid in the cocoa, thereby improving the taste and adjusting the colour of the cocoa powder from light brown to red, or even black.
Grinding and pressing the roasted cocoa kernels
The roasted cocoa-kernels consist of 45% non-fat cocoa solids and 55% high-fat cocoa butter. The cocoa butter is locked inside the cells of the solids. By heating and grinding the beans, the cocoa butter is released and the liquid this produces is the cocoa mass. The cocoa butter is separated from the solids in hydraulic presses. The two products of this pressing treatment are cocoa butter and cocoa press cakes, the raw material of cocoa powder.
Blending and refining
Appropriate quantities of two or more kinds of cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, milk powder (for milk chocolate and "white" chocolate), and a few more ingredients are weighed, according to formulas, and placed in a mixing bowl. This mixture is fed into big heated cylinders. This is to further get rid of moisture and refining the particles.
Mixing and Moulding
The focus of the studies to improve chocolate making has always been on conching, a process that is very expensive in energy and time consumption. The heavy chocolate mass is mixed at an elevated temperature for a long time - up to 24 hours or more.
