After all, any product made from cacao starts the same way: a small bean inside a pod growing on a tree. It's an extremely interesting journey!
Quality begins with harvesting.
Cacao grows inside pods containing about 20 to 50 beans each, surrounded by sweet, white pulp, also called mucilage. This pulp is as yet not that well known around the world but is very popular in countries where cacao is commonly grown, such as Ecuador. Cacao fruit pulp tastes sweet with a citrusy flavor, absolutely nothing like chocolate. If you haven't tried it already, we suggest you give it a shot.
Harvest timing becomes extremely crucial. Pods picked too early could be deficient in sugar and acidity, while pods that are picked too late run the risk of over-fermentation and mold.
Once harvested, pods are opened in an old-school way, with a machete. The beans are removed from the pod and placed in a bucket. At this point, the beans aren't even brown yet, and do not taste like chocolate at all. They're extremely bitter and astringent.
Fermentation: Where Flavor Is Created
Fermentation is perhaps the most critical stage in all processes. Beans, still enveloped in the pulp, are placed into boxes or piles and left for fermentation for a few days. It is now that naturally occurring yeast and bacteria break down sugars from the pulp that surrounds beans, producing heat, acids, and of course, magic. This impacts acidity levels, fruity and floral notes.
Poor fermentation can't be fixed later, so this part is so important. This requires the business to work with suppliers who are as experienced as possible in this area with a very strict quality control team.
Drying the Beans
Then, it undergoes drying after fermentation. This usually takes a few days and, as usual, is a stage that requires close monitoring. After drying, they are ready to be transported.
Roasting: Bringing the Flavor Notes Together
Roasting transforms fermented cacao beans into uniquely delicious chocolate flavors. Heat drives the chemical reactions that deepen aroma, reduce acidity, and pull out notes like nutty, caramelized, or roasted flavors. Well-known and highly valued, our Ecuadorian fine aroma cacao is renowned for its complex flavor profile.
Cracking and Winnowing
The beans are then roasted and cracked open, thereby removing their shell. The shells can be used to make tea from cacao or fertilizer. The shell removes the crushed bean known as nibs of cacao. The nibs could be used as a last ingredient and could be crushed further and turned into a paste known as cacao paste.
Grinding: Producing Cacao Liquor (Cacao Paste)
While grinding the cacao nibs, there is friction, causing the melting of the cacao butter in the bean. So, it turns into a thick liquid form, and it is called the "cacao liquor," also called "cacao paste/cacao mass."
Despite its name, liquor, in the case of cacao, does not have any alcohol in it. It is 100% pure ground
Cacao liquor is composed of equal amounts of fat and solids. Its advantages include versatility because, with cacao liquor, companies can make their chocolate formulation whatever they desire, as opposed to normal baking chocolate.
Pressing: Cake and Butter Separation
The cacao liquor is then pressed to draw out the fat, and a solid mass is left behind. This results in two new products: Cacao butter, which is the fat, and cocoa cake or presscake, which is the solid mass compressed.
Cacao Butter: Its Properties and Texture
Cacao butter has the same boiling point as the body temperature of humans (which goes to show that chocolate and humans were always meant to go with each other). This ingredient gives the smooth sensation found in chocolate, hence the "melt in your mouth" feeling.
Since cacao butter is dairy-free by itself, it is in high demand in plant-based and vegan foods. This product may also be employed for other purposes such as skin creams and even candles. At CocoaSupply, we provide the pure prime pressed naturally and the deodorized types. There is no usage of chemicals and bleaching in our process of deodorizing the product. This is done using the counter-current steam process. This prevents the loss of most of the scent and maintains the product in its original state except for the usual scent of chocolate.
Presscake to Cacao Powder
The remaining solid matter after pressing is then let drop and reduced to cacao powder. The final properties of the powder will depend on:
Fat content (low-fat:10-12% vs high-fat: 20-22%)
Whether natural or alkalized: Our alkalized cacao powder has less than 2% potassium carbonate content, which is a natural salt. Since our cacao is of a very high quality, removing too many properties from it is something that we do not favor at all. In fact, recipes which require baking powder but baking soda is just minimal typically call for an alkalized cacao powder. Natural cacao powder is mostly needed for recipes which require baking soda with or without baking powder.
Know Your Cacao
Understanding the incredible journey of cacao can help businesses make better decisions. Choices made at the sourcing level: fermentation quality, roast profile, aroma, etc. directly affect the end product. Know your cacao!