The Journey Chocolate

Step One: Get the Cocoa: Three main types;
Forastero: This is grown in West Africa and Brazil.
Criollo: This is grown in Central and South American and Indonesia.
Trinitario: This is grown in Cameroon and Papua New Guinea.

Step Two: Process the Beans: Sacks of beans are emptied out on to a conveyor belt and before anything else happens they’re cleaned to get rid of any dust, stones and dirt they may have picked during their travels to the necessary countries. Next the beans are roasted in a big revolving drum called a continuous roaster. Hot air goes into it as the beans pass along it, and it’s during this process that you’ll really begin to smell that gorgeous taste of chocolate!

Step Three: 'Kibbled and Winnowed': The roasted beans are ‘kibbled’ (broken in to small pieces), then ‘winnowed’ – the brittle shells are blown away, leaving just the ‘nibs’, the centres of the beans. The nibs are ground between steel rollers until they become a chocolate-coloured liquid, rather like thick cream, over half of which is cocoa butter. The liquid is called ‘mass’ or ‘cocoa liquor’ and this is the basic ingredient for all cocoa and chocolate products. Mass contains ‘cocoa butter’ and about half of is pressed out. You’re left with a solid block that can then be ground into cocoa powder.

Credits to: www.cadbury.co.uk