From bean to chocolate

The ideal circumstances for  the cocoa tree are temperatures above 25°C,  humidity more than 80% with lots of rainfall and available shade.  Such climate can be found around the equator, namely in Ivory Coast, Ghana and some countries in Asia & South America.   The flowers of the cocoa tree grow into cocoa fruit, called pods.  Harvesting of the ripened pods is done by handpicking to avoid damage to fruits and trees.  Around 20 – 40 cocoa beans are removed from each pod.  The cocoa beans are naturally fermented to stimulate the chocolate flavour precursors.  Then the cocoa beans are dried to reduce the moisture level below 7% and to stop the fermentation process.   By crushing the cocoa beans the shells and cocoa nibs are separated.  In the next step the cocoa nibs are roasted, which is essential for developing the chocolate taste and then grounded which results in a cocoa mass.   Before grounding, cocoa nibs from different origins  might be mixed to create a unique chocolate recipe blend.  By pressing the cocoa mass is separated into 55% cocoa butter and 45% cocoa powder.