Chocolate Production Process - A Sweet Satisfaction
“There is nothing better than a friend unless it is a friend with chocolate.”Happy or sad, in love or nursing a broken
heart, chocolates are made for all occasions. There is nothing like chocolate to lighten up your event. It’s a matter of wonder from where does this delicious and soothing thing come from. So let us go through the chocolate production process.
ORIGIN AND THE MAKING OF RAW MATERIALS
South American Rainforests marks the origin of the cacao tree. Cocoa beans,that help in the manufacturing of chocolate,grows on Cacao tree. There are about 20 to 60 beans in one cocoa pod. The first step is to harvest the cocoa pods, which contain the cacao beans. Then the crushing and fermentation of pods. Fermenting takes about 6 days. Next step after fermentation is drying of cocoa beans taken out from pods. Roasting, grading, and grounding of beans followed by drying. The grounding of beans leads to the formation of a liquid called chocolate liquor, made of fat called cocoa butter, and also contains carbohydrates, proteins, and some mineral matter. Extraction of cocoa butter is the next step. Drying helps in the formation of cocoa powder .
Cocoa beans & powder
Cacao tree
Cacao pods
Finally, the process leads to the production of chocolate liquor, cocoa powder, and cocoa butter.
MIXING OF RAW MATERIALS AND INGREDIENTS
Flow Chart – Chocolate Production Process – Discoverfoodtech.com
The first step involved in this process is mixing of Cocoa Mass, Dairy product, Sugar, Cocoa powder together in a mixer blender. An addition of cocoa butter provides the desired consistency and soften the mixture. The prepared mixture passes through rollers from which we get thin films of chocolate. So, from the last roller, we get chocolate films of less than 0.3mm. Kneading overnight at about 40 degrees Celsius ensures that the paste becomes smoother and the distinct aroma of the bean is apparent.
CHOCOLATE PRODUCTION
The process starts with the production of different shapes of molds whether to make chocolate bars of some different shaped chocolate. Melting of the kneaded chocolate to reduce its viscosity. The next step involves filling molds with melted chocolate. A screen with required pore size ensures that hardened chocolate does not pass through. Application of vibrations to molds to remove trapped air. The chocolate then moves to refrigeration room. Cooling and solidification of chocolate at 8-degree Celsius for 20-40 minutes in refrigerators. The chocolate thus prepared is taken out from molds.
As a result, the delicious and soothing chocolate is prepared.