Cocoa to Chocolate: From Pods to Bars
Cocoa has a long history dating back nearly four thousand years when the Maya valued it as currency and also enjoyed a bitter beverage made from beans. Over generations, cocoa’s uses broadened and it became the essential ingredient in the chocolate we know today. The journey is as much about culture as it is about flavor, and its rise from a sacred bean to a global treat shows how taste, trade, and craft intertwine.
Fun fact: Roughly 75 percent of the world’s cocoa crop is grown in Africa.
LIFE OF A POD — Cocoa is a plant that thrives best near the equator where warmth and moisture abound. The material used to make chocolate actually starts as nibs, the heart of the cocoa bean. How exactly do these nibs become chocolate? 1. Pods from cocoa trees are handpicked and opened so that the cocoa beans can be harvested. 2. The beans are then sorted, washed and shelled to reach the cocoa nib. 3. The nibs are then roasted and ground very fine to become a liquid called cocoa liquor. 4. Cocoa liquor is then made into cocoa powder or cocoa butter.
IT’S ALL IN THE MIX — The base ingredients can be combined to produce different styles of chocolate. The mixture is refined in a process called conching, and additional components can be added at this stage such as soy lecithin to help emulsify the fats and vanilla to deepen aroma. The blend is worked for four to twelve hours, and the longer the conching, the silkier and less gritty the resulting chocolate feels on the tongue.
THE GOOD STUFF — Quality often follows price. That means more of the cocoa content, which carries the flavor and depth that chocolate lovers seek. In Canada, rules define when a treat can be called chocolate based on cocoa content:
Milk Chocolate must have no less than 25% cocoa solids, of which at least 18% is cocoa butter. Dark Chocolate must have no less than 35% cocoa solids, of which at least 15% is cocoa butter. White chocolate must be made with at least 20% cocoa butter.
Products described as “chocolaty” or “chocolate flavoured” don’t meet the official standard for chocolate. They may contain more sugar and different oils or PGPR (Polyglycerol Polyricinoleate), which can influence texture and shelf life.
DID YOU KNOW? Real white chocolate is not truly white in color. It is made with cocoa butter, which gives a creamy or buttery off-white tone. Easter is a peak chocolate season; Allan Candy Company distributed more than 18 million milk chocolate LILLIPUT eggs this past Easter. Chocolate tasters are paid to look, smell and taste chocolate and offer feedback to makers, a job many say is sweet, if a little jarring at times. Source: Allan Candy Company.