Chocolate

From Bean to Bar

Colorful cacao pods growing from a cacao tree trunk — Photo: Medicaster / Public domain

Chocolate starts in a surprising place: on a cacao tree. The tree grows in warm, rainy places near the equator.

Cacao pods can look like bumpy footballs. Inside each pod are many seeds tucked into soft, pale pulp.

An opened cacao pod showing pale pulp and cocoa beans inside — Photo: Aude / CC BY-SA 3.0

Fresh cocoa beans do not taste like a candy bar. They are bitter, and they need a long journey before they become chocolate.

Cacao beans shown with pulp, with skin, and without skin — Photo: Phoenix CZE / CC BY-SA 4.0

A farmer holding fermenting cocoa beans in his hands — Photo: Irene Scott/AusAID / CC BY 2.0

After harvest, farmers let the beans and pulp ferment. Tiny living helpers begin changing the beans and building chocolate flavor.

Many cacao beans spread out to dry — Photo: pipeafcr / CC BY-SA 3.0

Next, the beans dry in the sun or in warm air. Dry beans can travel safely to people who make chocolate.

A close view of roasted cocoa nibs — Photo: Michael / CC BY 2.0

Chocolate makers roast the beans. Then the shells come off, leaving crunchy little pieces called nibs.

The nibs are ground into a thick paste. Machines mix and smooth the chocolate until it feels silky on your tongue.

A chocolate conching machine used to smooth chocolate — Photo: Lisa Davis / CC BY 2.0

Cooling chocolate is a science trick. When it cools just right, it turns shiny, snaps neatly, and melts smoothly. Dark, milk, and white chocolate are made in different ways, but each one begins with cacao.

Three bars showing dark chocolate, milk chocolate, and white chocolate — Photo: Lynnereal / CC BY-SA 4.0

Credits & Sources

Sources

Image Credits

A cacao tree with fruit pods in various stages of ripenin... -- Medicaster, Public domain
Cocoa beans surrounded by pale pulp inside an opened caca... -- Aude, CC BY-SA 3.0
Cacao beans shown in pulp, in skin, and without skin. -- Phoenix CZE, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cocoa farmer David Kebu Jnr holding fermenting cocoa bean... -- Irene Scott/AusAID, CC BY 2.0
Cacao beans drying in Cunday, Colombia. -- pipeafcr, CC BY-SA 3.0
Roasted cocoa nibs, the pieces left after roasted beans a... -- Michael, CC BY 2.0
A longitudinal conche used to refine and conch chocolate. -- Lisa Davis, CC BY 2.0
Three chocolate bars showing dark, milk, and white chocol... -- Lynnereal, CC BY-SA 4.0