Chocolate is the world’s favorite treat, it’s the perfect combination of flavor, texture and aroma.It doesn’t matter if it is dark, white or milk, chocolate is well loved by all but how exactly is it made?
Firstly, it is important to define precisely what chocolate is:
Chocolate is a semi-solid mixture of cocoa butter, cocoa solids and sugar in the most traditional sense.However, white chocolate is an exceptional formulation of this loved product.
Types of Chocolate
There are three main types of chocolate: dark, milk and white chocolate as mentioned before. The main difference between them is in the addition of milk powder (milk chocolate) and the removal of cocoa solids and addition of milk powder for white chocolate.
Manufacturing Process
Nonetheless, the manufacturing process remains basically the same. The first step in the process is the selection of the cocoa beans, this step is vital for obtaining a quality product. The beans must have the correct degree of fermentation, color and size; they must not have mold, defects, undesirable color, smell or texture. The correct selection of the beans could mean the success or failure of the final product.1
There are several methods for the selection and quality evaluation of cocoa beans to be used for chocolate production. They consist in the analysis of several quality indicators such as: degree of fermentation, moisture content (6-8%%), number or defects (foreign matter, crack beans, etc), number of broken beans, bean count per 100 g, degree of mouldiness, flavor profile, color, fat content (50-58%) , fat quality, shell content (10-12%), uniformity of bean size and insect or rodent infestation.
Overall, cocoa beans should not have off flavors such as moldy or smoky flavors, not be overly acidic, bitter or astringent. Bean size should be widely uniform with average weights of 1 g and should be properly fermented and dried to the criteria previously mentioned.
Grading of cocoa beans is accomplished through the cocoa bean test, this test consists in the evaluation of the cocoa bean by cutting it longitudinal and visually assessing it for defects. Commonly the considered defects are: moldy beans, slaty beans, insect-damaged beans, germinated beans, flat beans and purple beans. ISO standards specified a sample of minimum 300 beans per ton of cocoa bean to be assessed, and around 30% of the cocoa beans sacks should be tested.
The next step in the production process is roasting. This step has five objectives: firstly, the loosening of the shell for further separation from the nib, moisture reduction to around 2%, darkening of the cocoa nib, reduction of microorganism, degradation of amino acids, and loss of volatile compounds to aid in flavor development. After roasting, the shells are further separated from the cocoa nibs by a grinding process; this step helps the winnowing process by loosing up the shell from the bean further.
The following step consists in the actual process to obtain the cocoa liquor (cocoa butter and cocoa solids), the cocoa nibs are milled to a particle size of about 30 mcr in special refining machines or melangers. A wide variety of milling machines exist in the market for the grinding of cocoa beans, some of the most commonly used are stone mills, disc mills, pin or hammer mills and bead or ball mills. A smooth liquid (cocoa liquor) is obtained from the previous step due to the friction and heat produced by the milling, then the sugar is added into the mixture for mixing and further refining.1
Further processing is carried out in the conching step where the final flavor development occurs. This processing step consists in the agitation of chocolate mixture at 50 oC (120 oF) for several hours, this promotes the volatilization of undesired flavors and odors.
The coming step is one of the most important steps in chocolate manufacturing and consists in the tempering of the cocoa liquor. Tempering is a thermal process, where the cocoa liquor is treated to several temperature changes to produce the appropriate fat crystal to obtain the beloved shiny, crunchy and melting properties of chocolate.2
Finally, the tempered chocolate is transferred to the molds of the preferred shape until they settle and can be easily removed from them.
Conclusion
Chocolate is one amazing product, whose production requires very particular and specific quality parameters to accomplish the beloved treat. Cocoa beans are the main and most important ingredient in this semi solid mixture and thus required particular evaluation.
References:
1. Afoakwa, Emmanuel Ohene. Chocolate Science And Technology. 2nd ed., Wiley-Blackwell, 2016, pp. 102-112.
2. Beckett, Stephen T et al. Beckett’s Industrial Chocolate Manufacture And Use. 5th ed., John Wiley & Sons Inc, 2017, pp. 314 – 316.
