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Chocolate doesn't originate in the Supermarket, and it doesn't come from Switzerland or
Belgium!
It does grow on trees; Cacao trees that flower and fruit simultaneously all year long.
Cacao trees grow in tropical areas of the world, under a canopy of taller
shade-providing trees, which may need to be cultivated along with the cacao for the
purpose of maintaining the required symbiotic relationship with their surroundings. Not
only do the plants need the filtered light provided by Palms or Mahogany trees, but
creatures that thrive in those groves help to pollinate the tiny cacao blossoms.
Once pollinated, the fruit takes about 6 months to mature, under the watchful eye of the
farmers, who harvest each pod as it is ready.
There are a few different types of cacao, with different shapes and colors of fruits,
ranging from ones that look like large mangoes, to long thin warty ugly ones of either
green or yellow or orange. Inside is a slimy white goo, and hiding within are several
bitter beans that taste nothing like a piece of 70% bark or a Raspberry Dessert Wine
Truffle.
Of the various types, there are some exceptional ones, and a large amount of ... rather
average ones. Criollo, Trinatario and Forestero varieties are the major classifications,
Criollo being the highest quality but unfortunately the least common; Forestero being
the hardiest, highest yielding tree, with the least exciting flavors. The Trinatario is a
hybrid of the other two, (allegedly) first spontaneously created on the island of Trinidad.
The beans from Trinitario trees can be excellent.
This is such a huge generalization, however, that it must be pointed out that growing
conditions, soils, and most especially handling procedures can make chocolate from
Forestero beans better than that from Criollos. Certain Foresteros from certain regions
have their own excellent reputations.
Speaking of which, the trend in chocolates today, is to label it with the country or region
of origin, and charge a premium for 'single-origin' chocolates.
The face of chocolates has changed fantastically in the last five to ten years, and shoppers
now find themselves confronted with some bewildering choices between blended
chocolates and a newer breed of 'exclusive derivation' chocolates.
The word 'blended' is one recurrent source of misunderstanding. What it means is that
cacao beans are of different varieties and/or geographical origins. Do not assume that the
result is necessarily an anonymous, homogenized hodgepodge. The practice of blending is
very old, indeed pre-Columbian. From the start it was founded on a recognition that the
right combinations of different cacaos have a kind of synergy, a total greater than the sum
of the parts. But to achieve the full potential the maker must treat each variety with regard
to its special needs (for example, optimal roasting temperatures). This was part of the skill
possessed by the older European artisanal chocolate makers. When corporate giants came
on the scene, they adapted the time-honored tradition of blending to the pursuit of profit
more than flavor. But do not imagine that Cadbury, Nestle and Hershey were blind to the
distinctionsa between good and bad cacaos. They never lost sight of a complex calculus
between price an quality, enabling them to give a cheap, commonplace Forestero a flavor
boost from carefully judged smaller admixtures of better beans.
--- Maricel Presilla, A New Taste of Chocolate
In a very low-tech process involving machetes and sunshine, these beans are extracted
and the transformation into a delightful chocolate confection begins, there on the
plantation.
Very simply, workers open up the pods and pile the insides in bins, cover them with
cacao leaves, and allow the natural process of fermentation to take place. The sugars
in the pulp ferment, and the beans lose their harshness over a period of a couple days
up to almost a week, depending on the type of cacao.
Once fermented, the beans are spread out in the sun to dry. This can be done on
concrete aprons, or on carts that can roll under a roof at night, and takes a few more
days.
After drying the beans are ready to be sent off to a manufacturer such as Hershey's or
Theo, to turn into what you would recognize as chocolate. They are roasted just like
coffee beans, and then crushed. This separates the shell from the tasty insides, called
the nibs. Some of those nibs are used for crunch in confections such as Carter's Nibs...
most continue on in the factory to become chocolate.
Nibs are then crushed and ground into a paste, which is called Cocoa Liquor, (although
no alcohol is involved.)
Cocoa Liquor is the basis for chocolate, and when it is further broken down, (Through
the process invented by van Houten in 1828) the result is Cocoa Powder, and Cocoa
Butter.
Inferior cacao beans will typically be rendered into those two parts, the cocoa butter
being added back into another batch of cocoa liquor to form a high quality Couverture
chocolate, and the cocoa powder going into bags to sell at the grocery store as an
ingredient.
Other ingredients are added, depending on the desired product. Sugar and soy
lecithin, and usually vanilla are in almost all chocolates; and milk powder will be found in
White Couverture as well as Milk Chocolate.
(Couverture is what a chocolate is called if the only fat in it is cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter is a very complex fat, a triglyceride, that has three distinct melting points,
making it hard to work with, and requiring the process called Tempering be done in
order to ensure a nice crisp, shiny, and stable finished product.)
The final step in the process, invented by Rodolphe LIndt, is called conching. Before
conching, the chocolate is a mess - a thick crumbly paste that just sits there. Conching
is a process of heating and agitation that turns the mess into a lovely, flowing liquid by
reducing the size of the particles, coating them with cocoa butter, and removing water.
It has finally become Chocolate as we know it today.
Now it just needs to be tempered, poured into molds, wrapped, shipped, and sold.
...OR... turned into glorious confections at Carters Chocolates, and shipped to you and
your friends in recycled boxes.
Timeline...
Belgium!
It does grow on trees; Cacao trees that flower and fruit simultaneously all year long.
Cacao trees grow in tropical areas of the world, under a canopy of taller
shade-providing trees, which may need to be cultivated along with the cacao for the
purpose of maintaining the required symbiotic relationship with their surroundings. Not
only do the plants need the filtered light provided by Palms or Mahogany trees, but
creatures that thrive in those groves help to pollinate the tiny cacao blossoms.
Once pollinated, the fruit takes about 6 months to mature, under the watchful eye of the
farmers, who harvest each pod as it is ready.
There are a few different types of cacao, with different shapes and colors of fruits,
ranging from ones that look like large mangoes, to long thin warty ugly ones of either
green or yellow or orange. Inside is a slimy white goo, and hiding within are several
bitter beans that taste nothing like a piece of 70% bark or a Raspberry Dessert Wine
Truffle.
Of the various types, there are some exceptional ones, and a large amount of ... rather
average ones. Criollo, Trinatario and Forestero varieties are the major classifications,
Criollo being the highest quality but unfortunately the least common; Forestero being
the hardiest, highest yielding tree, with the least exciting flavors. The Trinatario is a
hybrid of the other two, (allegedly) first spontaneously created on the island of Trinidad.
The beans from Trinitario trees can be excellent.
This is such a huge generalization, however, that it must be pointed out that growing
conditions, soils, and most especially handling procedures can make chocolate from
Forestero beans better than that from Criollos. Certain Foresteros from certain regions
have their own excellent reputations.
Speaking of which, the trend in chocolates today, is to label it with the country or region
of origin, and charge a premium for 'single-origin' chocolates.
The face of chocolates has changed fantastically in the last five to ten years, and shoppers
now find themselves confronted with some bewildering choices between blended
chocolates and a newer breed of 'exclusive derivation' chocolates.
The word 'blended' is one recurrent source of misunderstanding. What it means is that
cacao beans are of different varieties and/or geographical origins. Do not assume that the
result is necessarily an anonymous, homogenized hodgepodge. The practice of blending is
very old, indeed pre-Columbian. From the start it was founded on a recognition that the
right combinations of different cacaos have a kind of synergy, a total greater than the sum
of the parts. But to achieve the full potential the maker must treat each variety with regard
to its special needs (for example, optimal roasting temperatures). This was part of the skill
possessed by the older European artisanal chocolate makers. When corporate giants came
on the scene, they adapted the time-honored tradition of blending to the pursuit of profit
more than flavor. But do not imagine that Cadbury, Nestle and Hershey were blind to the
distinctionsa between good and bad cacaos. They never lost sight of a complex calculus
between price an quality, enabling them to give a cheap, commonplace Forestero a flavor
boost from carefully judged smaller admixtures of better beans.
--- Maricel Presilla, A New Taste of Chocolate
In a very low-tech process involving machetes and sunshine, these beans are extracted
and the transformation into a delightful chocolate confection begins, there on the
plantation.
Very simply, workers open up the pods and pile the insides in bins, cover them with
cacao leaves, and allow the natural process of fermentation to take place. The sugars
in the pulp ferment, and the beans lose their harshness over a period of a couple days
up to almost a week, depending on the type of cacao.
Once fermented, the beans are spread out in the sun to dry. This can be done on
concrete aprons, or on carts that can roll under a roof at night, and takes a few more
days.
After drying the beans are ready to be sent off to a manufacturer such as Hershey's or
Theo, to turn into what you would recognize as chocolate. They are roasted just like
coffee beans, and then crushed. This separates the shell from the tasty insides, called
the nibs. Some of those nibs are used for crunch in confections such as Carter's Nibs...
most continue on in the factory to become chocolate.
Nibs are then crushed and ground into a paste, which is called Cocoa Liquor, (although
no alcohol is involved.)
Cocoa Liquor is the basis for chocolate, and when it is further broken down, (Through
the process invented by van Houten in 1828) the result is Cocoa Powder, and Cocoa
Butter.
Inferior cacao beans will typically be rendered into those two parts, the cocoa butter
being added back into another batch of cocoa liquor to form a high quality Couverture
chocolate, and the cocoa powder going into bags to sell at the grocery store as an
ingredient.
Other ingredients are added, depending on the desired product. Sugar and soy
lecithin, and usually vanilla are in almost all chocolates; and milk powder will be found in
White Couverture as well as Milk Chocolate.
(Couverture is what a chocolate is called if the only fat in it is cocoa butter.
Cocoa butter is a very complex fat, a triglyceride, that has three distinct melting points,
making it hard to work with, and requiring the process called Tempering be done in
order to ensure a nice crisp, shiny, and stable finished product.)
The final step in the process, invented by Rodolphe LIndt, is called conching. Before
conching, the chocolate is a mess - a thick crumbly paste that just sits there. Conching
is a process of heating and agitation that turns the mess into a lovely, flowing liquid by
reducing the size of the particles, coating them with cocoa butter, and removing water.
It has finally become Chocolate as we know it today.
Now it just needs to be tempered, poured into molds, wrapped, shipped, and sold.
...OR... turned into glorious confections at Carters Chocolates, and shipped to you and
your friends in recycled boxes.
Timeline...
A wonderful book, by a woman
intimately familiar with all aspects of
the chocolate business. Loads of
information on chocolate history,
growing, processing, and much more.
My favorite chocolate resource!
Carter's gives it 5 Stars
intimately familiar with all aspects of
the chocolate business. Loads of
information on chocolate history,
growing, processing, and much more.
My favorite chocolate resource!
Carter's gives it 5 Stars
A very comprehensive reference for
all things Chocolate. Contains
formulas for professional use.
Carter's gives it 5 Stars
all things Chocolate. Contains
formulas for professional use.
Carter's gives it 5 Stars
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