From Bitter Cocoa Bean To Glorious Chocolate

I had to research my favorite heavenly PMS-thwarting superfood, that of chocolate.  I can’t remember a time when chocolate wasn’t my favorite sweet treat on the planet, and I’ve never taken the time to research exactly how the stuff comes to be.  The process was eye-openingly grueling, all that had to be done just so I could stuff my face with the concoction of glory and goodness was more than I had ever imagined.

I knew that chocolate came from the cocoa bean, but I did not know that the cocoa bean trees only grow in specific countries, a narrow belt around the equator in Latin America, Asia, and Africa.  The cocoa bean prefers the tropical heat of the equator over the frigid ice of the poles.  Once the cocoa pod (each pod contains 40 to 50 cocoa beans) is fully grown, they are picked, after which they peel the pod and let the beans dry out for 6 or 7 days.  

Cocoa pods (https://www.infusionchocolates.com/aboutchocolate.php)

When this is accomplished, they are sorted, packaged, and shipped to chocolate-producing factories all over the world.  At the chocolate factories, the beans are cleaned, dried, and the shells removed, revealing a cocoa nib.   These nibs are roasted and then ground into a fine liquid, cocoa liquor.   Ingredients such as milk, vanilla, etc., can be added to the liquor, which is then rolled into a dough and ground into a powder.   The powder is put into a machine called a conch which plows the chocolate powder around, eventually giving it it’s velvety smoothness.  After it’s been tempered and cooled, it’s read to be molded and made into the chocolate concoctions that we are so used to.

That’s a long process just so I can spend 2 minutes eating a candy bar.  I have learned that I should never take for granted the food that we are provided with, whether it be the healthy stuff that keeps us alive and moving or the indulgent, once-in-a-while stuff like chocolate.  No matter what it is, someone worked hard to bring it to my plate.  

Works Cited

"DB Infusion Chocolates." Chocolate's Journey from Bean to Bar; Chocolate History, Health Facts and How to Taste Chocolate. DB Infusion Chocolates, 2015. Web. 27 May 2015.