Did you know chocolate is made from the fermented seeds of a tropical fruit?

It's absolutely true!

Cocoa is the fruit of a tropical forest tree called Cacao Theobroma originating from the Amazon rainforests in South America.  Cocoa trees only grow up to 18 degrees from the equator.  The species name 'theobroma' derived from Greek literally means 'God food' or 'food of God'.

Cocoa grows extremely well in Far North Queensland, especially in the region around the ancient Daintree Rainforest where soils are nutrient rich and the climate is humid and sunny, ideal for cocoa trees.

Flowering & pods

Cocoa trees flower continuously all year round, growing over 4-5 months into pods on the branches and trunk.  Depending on the plant variety the cocoa pods ripen to an array of colours from yellow, orange and red, through to maroon and brown. There are around 40 seeds inside each cocoa pod, a natural purple colour, and very bitter.  The seeds are covered in a white mucilage which has a delicate and refreshing tropical taste and is loaded with antioxidants and other nutrients.

Pod splitting and fermenting

Cocoa seeds are extracted from each pod usually by hand, although some mechanical pod extraction methods are in use with variable effectiveness.  It's important to keep out any pieces of the thick cocoa pod husk as it can spoil the ferment.  The freshly extracted wet beans are then placed into large bins for fermenting over a 5-7 day period, turning frequently to aerate and ensure an even ferment throughout each bin.

Drying

The fermented cocoa beans are laid out on wide open beds for drying in the natural sunlight for about a week.  In wet weather, the drying beans may be dried undercover in the outdoors, effectively air-drying them.  Dried beans are edible, however they can still spoil due to a small amount of residual moisture and so they can't stay in storage for long.

Roasting, cracking and winnowing

Dried cocoa beans are carefully roasted to arrest any further biological degradiation and deepen the flavour in preparation for chocolate making.  The roasted cocoa bean kernels are then separated from their outer shell and cracked into little pieces called cocoa nibs.  Cocoa nibs are a nutritious crunchy addition to trail mix or to sprinkle on breakfast or desserts.

Cocoa butter and cake

Cocoa beans have a natural fat content around 50%.  Roasted cocoa nibs are squashed under mechanical pressure to squeeze out the fat, producing cocoa butter and leaving behind cocoa cake which is then ground up to produce cocoa powder.   Some bean-to-bar manufacturers will skip this step, instead using the nibs as a core ingredient. 

Cocoa liquor

Cocoa nibs are ground in a conche for many hours they they become liquified.  The liquid mass is poured into containers where it solidifies again to form cocoa liquor and stored until it's ready to be made into finished chocolate.

Chocolate conching 

Cocoa liquor is warmed up till it melts and then combined in a refining conche with sugar and other ingredients such as lecithin and vanilla depending on the type of chocolate to be made.  It's common to add additional cocoa butter to improve the mouth feel of the finished chocolate.  Some manufacturers add other types of vegetable fats which alters the natural melting point of the finished chocolate and influences the flavour.  

Tempering and moulding

The liquified chocolate is then taken through a specific sequence of temperatures to create optimal crystalisation as it dries.  The quality of the crystallisation process determines the 'snap' or hardness of the finished chocolate.  It's poured into moulds, vibrated to remove any air bubbles and then allowed to cool and set.

Is it all worth it?

As you can see, there are a lot of steps in the process from harvested cocoa pods through to enjoying finished chocolate.  Each of these processes requires expertise, human participation and supervision to ensure quality throughout.  A failure at any step will result in a poor final chocolate product, so quality control and testing is crucial throughout the entire process.

Want more info?

Interested to read more about the cocoa growing in Australia?  

Student & teacher resources for assignments and curriculum on cocoa growing in Australia are available free from Daintree Estates.  Just ask.