After cocoa beans have been received at the processing location, they are
inspected and thoroughly cleaned of all extraneous matter, such as sticks,
stones, and metal fragments, as well as broken beans. The cleaning process
involves blowers, which remove items that are lighter or heavier than cocoa
beans, and sieves which eliminate items that are too small or too big.
Once the beans are cleaned, the processor has the option of roasting them
before the shell is removed, or of removing the shell before roasting. The
inside of the cocoa bean is called the nib. Generally speaking, chocolate
manufacturers prefer to roast the beans before shelling them, while cocoa
processors favor the nib-roasting process.
Bean roasting allows for more variety in the degree of roast and development
of flavor, but requires beans of a uniform size, while nib roasting is more even
and does not require uniform bean size. Removing the shell before roasting
prevents migration of cocoa butter from the bean into the shell during the
roasting process.
Once the beans have been shelled and roasted (or roasted and shelled, as the
case may be), the nib is ground into a paste. The heat generated by this process
causes the cocoa butter in the nib to melt, hence the name ‘cocoa liquor’. It is
also known as cocoa paste, chocolate paste, cocoa mass or in the United States
Food Standards of Identify, simply as chocolate. Once further refined, it also
is called unsweetened baking chocolate.
Chocolate liquor destined for processing into cocoa butter and cake is
refined to a very small particle size, as it is easier to reduce the particle
size earlier, when the butter is still present, rather than later, when most of
the butter has been pressed out. A smaller particle size makes butter extraction
easier.
Chocolate liquor destined for chocolate production need not be as finely
ground. Indeed, a larger particle size is preferable because it requires less
cocoa butter than finely ground liquor to give the same mouth feel to the
finished chocolate. This is an important economic consideration.
In the cocoa-processing operation, the liquor is now fed into hydraulic
presses that remove a predetermined percentage of the cocoa butter, leaving
behind a cake which, according to the processor’s requirements, may contain
anything from 6% to 24% of cocoa butter. The cocoa butter so extracted is then
filtered and stored in tanks in liquid form until ready to be turned over to the
chocolate operation, if at the same location. Otherwise it is shipped to its
final destination either in liquid form in tank trucks or in mounded form in
cartons. It is sold as ‘pure, prime pressed, natural’ cocoa butter, usually
considered to be best quality.
The cocoa cake is either broken into smaller pieces (kibbled) and sold into
the generic cocoa cake market, or it is ground into a fine powder.
The cocoa processor has the option of treating the nib or the liquor with an
alkali solution (alkalizing), which will reduce the acidity by increasing the
normal pH factor from about 5.0 up to 8.0. This treatment is also known as
‘dutching’. It was invented in the late 1800s by the Dutchman C. J. Van Houten,
who developed the cocoa butter pressing operation as well.
Alkalizing cocoa nib or cocoa liquor renders the powder darker, gives it a
milder, but more chocolaty flavor, and allows it to stay in suspension longer in
liquids such as milk. It generally commands a premium over natural cocoa powder.
On the other hand, the cocoa butter extracted from alkalized liquor does have
a more pungent and less desirable odor and flavor, and must be deodorized, as
well as refined. It is then carefully blended with other cocoa butters, so that
the resulting final butter for sale is consistent in its bland flavor, color and
viscosity.
Virtually all the cocoa butter produced by the international cocoa processing
industry is used in the manufacture of chocolate, where it must be added to the
liquor to achieve the desired result. The pharmaceutical and cosmetics
industries, which also use cocoa butter, may obtain their requirements from
sources using solvent extraction or methods other than pressing cocoa butter
from cocoa shell. Some may use cocoa beans that are not suitable as a food item. Source: www.chocolateandcocoa.org
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