Chocolate has been available for countless years. It was first cultivated by Native American people as a refreshing beverage and later it was developed into chocolate bars which we all eat today. But what does it take to make chocolate? Let explore chocolate’s history and how it is manufactured.

To begin with, chocolate is manufactured from ripe pods of cocoa beans from the Theobroma cacao tree. The Aztec and Mayan people who cultivated the cacao tree as early as 600 BC called it “Food for the Gods” because of its godly taste.

Today African countries produce about two-thirds of the total global output; Ghana, Côte d'Ivoire, Nigeria, and Cameroon are the leading African cocoa producers. Most of the remainder comes from South American countries, chiefly Brazil and Ecuador.

Chocolate is very abundant because the pods from the cacao trees are cultivated all year long. There are three types of pods and each have their own unique flavour, namely Forastero, Criollo and Trinitario.

Of the three, the most abundant among them is Forastero. Criollo on the other hand is very rare while Trinitario is a hybrid of Forastero and Criollo.

Harvesting the pods is usually done by hand with machetes. The farmers then split open the pods to get to the cocoa beans. The pods are scraped to release the pulp and beans from inside the pods before they are left to ferment in baskets between 2 to 8 days.

The next step is fermentation. This is important since without it, the cocoa beans inside the pods would be too bitter to try. After fermentation, the cocoa beans are spread out on a single layer to dry, usually under direct sunlight before there are packed and exported.

Now you understand what farmers do, it is time to explain what the manufacturers do. Once the beans reach the factory, they are roasted and transferred to a winnower. This machine removes the shell of the bean and leaves behind, what is called “nibs”. It is the nibs which are used to manufacture chocolate. The nibs are ground down and turned into a rich thick paste called chocolate liquor.

The liquor then undergoes one more process to remove the fat produced called cocoa butter which has an end product known as “cocoa presscake” or cocoa powder and from here, producers decide what
kind of chocolate to make.

If the presscake is of low quality, this will have to be mixed with other products like vegetable fats, sugar and artificial flavouring. If what they have is of high quality, then this will be mixed again to the chocolate liquor and other ingredients like milk, sugar and vanilla before being moved to a conching machine.

The conching is seen as the the last step in the production process and this gives chocolate it familiar flavour and texture. The running speed, temperature and length of this process has a lot to do with the final flavour of the chocolate. Also, conching helps take away any acidic tones.

The chocolate is then eventually mixed in a huge vat which in due course pours the chocolate into a specific mould. Once chilled the chocolate bars are then packed and are ready to be exported off to the consumer.

Now that you you are aware what it takes to manufacture chocolate, or who invented chocolate you can begin to understand a little bit more about the process before you buy your much loved chocolate choice. Some chocolates are low cost while others are very expensive and it all boils down to the type of cocoa tree used to make the finished product.