How It's MadeTo get chocolate you must go through a series of steps. The first step is growing the cacao tree. Then you harvest, and then you ferment what you gathered. Then you clean what you fermented, and after you have cleaned your cacao beans you roast them. Then you go through a process of winnowing and crushing, and then you distribute what you have. Then the buyers make it into chocolate.
Growing the cacao tree is the first step. The trees are found in lowlands that are wet. They are also found in South Pacific Islands, Caribbean, and Asia. These trees are very sensitive; they should not be placed into the sun for long periods of time or in the wind. Some of the trees get as tall as forty feet and have leaves that are one feet long. The pods contain 25-50 seeds. Those seeds are the cocoa beans.
Next, you began to harvest the trees. Twice a year you harvest the cocoa beans that you use. During the process, a large ax is used to split open the fruit that is cut from the trees. The beans and pulp are then removed. The fermenting now begins by placing the beans and pulp in boxes and then put them in holes that are in the ground.
Now that you have placed the beans and pulp inboxes and into the ground you usually allow them to ferment for five to seven days. During this step the workers mix and turn the pulp and beans frequently. The development of flavor starts to take place during fermentation. When the fermentation ends and the beans are dried by the sun and then bagged. Then those bags are shipped to cleaning factories.
When the cocoa beans are cleaned debris (twigs, rocks, dust, and other things) are separated from them. They are then weighed and other beans are blended with it. There are special recipes of blended beans for making things like a cocoa mix, cocoa butter, and candy bars. Now the beans are roasted to add flavor, lower acidity, and reduce moisture. Roasting the beans makes them come out of their shell and its color becomes darker. Roasting beans take thirty minutes to two hours depending on what type of beans they are.
Now you begin the winnowing and crushing process begins. In the winnowing process beans are detached from their thin shells with the use of a cracking machine. The nibs of cocoa beans (53% cocoa butter) are to the mills where they are crushed. In this step you use heat to make the cocoa butter into liquid resulting in chocolate liquor. The liquor is put into molds and is left there to solidify.
After the chocolate solidifies in the molds the distribution process begins. That hard chocolate is now sold to factories and other sellers. When the factories buy the dark chocolate they make other things with it like cocoa mixes, eating chocolate, liquors, baking chocolate, and more. The US ships chocolate in liquid form so that the buyers do anything they want to do with it.