Cocoa BeansUpdated 3 months ago

Category: Chocolate Base 
Sourced from: Ghanaian and Ivory Coast cocoa 
Country of Origin: Ghana and Ivory Coast
Certified to: Organic - USDA NOP or equivalent, Fair Trade - Fair for Life or equivalent, Regenerative Organic or equivalent

Cocoa beans make up the base of chocolate and give chocolate its flavor.

Making chocolate begins with harvesting cocoa fruit from cocoa trees. Inside the cocoa fruit are seeds, which are fermented and then dried in the sun. In the process, the white seeds gradually turn into brown cocoa beans.

The cocoa beans are cleaned to remove any foreign material such as metal, stones, wood, and other light debris. Then the beans are heated with air to dry their shells for breaking and winnowing. During that process, the dry cocoa shells are removed, leaving small kernels called nibs. The nibs are roasted and ground into a silky liquid cocoa mass. Cocoa mass can be turned into cocoa butter and cocoa powder through a process called pressing.

The cocoa mass is then mixed with cocoa butter and crystalline sugar, and that mixture is put through a refining process that presses it into a fine powder. This powder is dried in large heating vessels called conches. The conches mix and heat the powder while keeping it ventilated and dried. Conching is the most important part of the chocolate-making process in terms of flavor development, and it takes several hours. It results in liquid chocolate mass that can then be stored in agitated tanks at 113–122°F (45–50°C).

During tempering, liquid chocolate mass is used to create crystal seeds with cocoa butter. Once it has been tempered, the chocolate is gently heated and then deposited evenly into chocolate molds to remove air bubbles. After the molds have cooled, they’re turned upside down, and the chocolate bars are unmolded and ready for packaging.

Found in: Magic All-One Dark Chocolate, Magic All-One Oat Milk Chocolate