HARVESTING CHOCO

• Main harvesting is 2x a year following the rainy season
• Experienced pickers taps the pod and assesses the color to make sure it is ready for harvesting
• Pods are removed by cutting through the stalks.

  • carefully harvested to not destroy the "cauliflory" which produces the flower + fruit
• some countries, harvesting may to December (west Africa- september to February
• FERMENTATION

  sprit beans with cutlass to not damage the beans

  • scrape the pulp s secas, place unto mat of banana leaves, cover with leaves, leave to ferment up to 6 days,
• DRYING

  After fermentation, beans are spread out on bamboo mats or wooden drying floors

  10-20 days DRYING

  •regularly turned to prevent molds

  best quality of cacao are dried naturally in the warm I

  tropical sun

  After drying, cacao beans develop cocoa aroma and is ready to be packed in jute sacks -> choco factory?!
• CLEANING AND GRADING

  preliminary beans are given preminary cleaning stones and forcian obiects are removed by sieving

  “Dass through conveyors to cleaning and graaing machines defective beans are discarded

  Clean beans to roasting machine.
• ROASTING FOR FLAVOR

  • Roasting temp (250°F /(122c) is lOW
  • over roasting beans will destroy their natural flavor and produces a bitter product
  • under roasting. makes the removal of the husk more difficult and fail to remove. the naturas bitterness of the raw bean wen
  • others roast beans longes for a stronger flavos
  • Beans are quickly cooled after roasting to prevent further internal roasting
• Winnowing

  • This process cracks open the roasted bean and blows the lighter husk away from the heavier pieces of nib
  • the husk is then recycled for animal food or.fertilizers
• BEAN BLENDING

  • Specified quantities of different varities of cacao nins are weighed and transferred to a cylindrical blender before transferring to grinding machines
  • blending of beans for cocoa powder is generally less precise than for eating chocolate
• Notes,

  (GRINDING

  nibs go througn rollers that turn into a paste paste goes through a second grinding to bring its down to 25 - 5 microns

  Chocolate diauor flows but and this contains.

  53-55% cocoa butter

  " the main ingredient for different chocolate products
• PARTING OF THE WAYS

  cocoa powder, the next step is the extraction of a

  • large proportion of cacao butter
  • some cocoa is dutched, which helps the cocoa powder easier to mix with water
  • A wetting agent is sometimes added to instant varities of cocoa for cold drinks, thus making the powder easier to mix with cold milk / waterCecithin (fat in (egg yolks and soy beans)
• MIXING

  • cacao beans used for manufacturing eating chocolate are processed in a different way from the beans used in cocoa production

  " melangeur - mixer chocolate paste until it resembles

  a well Kneoded dough

  • white choco, powdered / evaporated milk is added to the rest of ingredients in the mixer
• REFINING

  • chocolate paste is ground in a series of five rollers when the paste emerges from the fifth roller, it is

  720MBT

  already wafer thin,

  •some mass producers consider this as a last step but. the finest chocolate snould undergo concning)
• CONCHING

  • Conching machine) invented by (Rudolf Lindt in 18800G "conche" in French. Derived from large shell shaped container of the machine
  • Agitate chocolate cliquid gently for a period of time (up to(7 days)
• CONCHING

  • A process where flavor of the chocolate is (develaped). and mellowed removing any residual bitterness, and texture is velvety smooth

  cheap choco manufacturers does this for 12 hours only.

  7Quality producers does this for a week and aads extra cocoa butter to make it smoother
• • During conching, various flavors are added vanilla, cloves, cinnamon)
  • Quality choco - pure vanilla
  • extract cheap choco - vanillin cunthetic substitute)
• conching

  • Mixture is warmed at 21-71 C for some dark chocolate 90C

  allows excess moisture to evaporate
• conching

  Lecithin is also added at this stage as it brings out id the chocolate flavor.
• TEMPERING

  choco is added to (tempering kettles where it is stirred and carefully cooled but still remains tiquid

  • If chocolate is cooled auickly, fat will remain liquid and separate from the mass and creates bloom on the suffucers
  • After tempering, made into molts bars into molding.

  machines.

  For coating chocolate, pumped into enrobing machines.
• MOLDING

  • Liquid choco is molded into nollowed out shapes and filled with small chocolates

  "Good quality hollow chocolate has a nign degree of glOss

  •Easter eggs, bunnies, hearts, pigs, fish, lions, cars, etc.
• ENROBING

  coating confectionery centers

  • Liquid chocolate that has a slightly thin consistency is agitated once more and maintained at a temp that. keep it movid

  i Center should be warm when entering the coating chamber: a cold center results to expanding and bursting

  * too warm = loose its shape