Chocolate Is Healthy

It can be hard to visualize how chocolate goes from a strange-looking bean pod to the delicious dark sweet we enjoy.  Here’s an overview of how cocoa beans are harvested, fermented, dried, cleaned and roasted.

An excerpt:

” The beans are left to ferment on chests or in large piles on the ground, and are covered over with banana leaves. Yeast and bacteria now go to work, removing the sugar by converting it first to alcohol and carbon dioxide, and then to acetic acid. This process takes between 2 and 9 days, depending on the type of bean. The beans are continually turned over to ensure that they ferment evenly. The end result of this process is a bean loosened from its pulp, devoid of its ability to germinate, and full of color and flavor.

Next, the beans are dried. They are placed on bamboo or wooden mats or and exposed to the hot sun for roughly two weeks. The beans are continually turned over to ensure even drying. Before the beans can be shipped, they must be packed into sacks; then they are stored, branded and numbered.”

How Chocolate Is Made – Cocoa Bean Preparation – Chocolate Necessities, Inc..