Varieties
There are three main varieties of cacao beans used in chocolates. The most prized, rare, and expensive is Criollo, the bean of the Maya. Criollos are less bitter and require shorter roasting periods to develop aroma. Forastero is a large group of wild and cultivated cacaos, significantly hardier than Criollo. Trinitario, a natural hybrid of Criollo and Forastero, originated in Trinidad after an introduction of (Amelonado) Forastero to local Criollo crop.
Nearly all cacao produced over the past five decades is of the Forastero or lower-grade Trinitario varieties. The share of higher quality Criollos and Trinitarios (so called flavour cacao) is just under 5% per annum [6].
Harvesting
Firstly, the cacao pods, containing cacao beans, are harvested. The pods are crushed and left to ferment for about six days, after which the beans are split from the pods and dried. Fine chocolate can be produced by drying the beans for about 7 days in the sun. Accelerated or artificial drying is quicker but produces inferior quality chocolate, such as that used in most mass produced products.
The beans are then roasted, graded and ground. Cocoa butter is removed from the resulting chocolate liquor either by being pressed or by the Broma process. The residue is what is known as cocoa powder.
Blending
Chocolate liquor is blended with the butter in varying quantities to make different types of chocolate or couverture. The basic blends of ingredients, in order of highest quantity of cocoa liquor first, are as follows. Note that since American chocolates have a lower percentage requirement of cocoa liquor for dark chocolate, some dark chocolate may have sugar as the top ingredient.
Plain dark chocolate: cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, sugar, and (sometimes) vanilla.
Milk chocolate: sugar, milk or milk powder, cocoa liquor, cocoa butter, and vanilla.
White chocolate: sugar, milk or milk powder, cocoa butter, and vanilla.
Usually, an emulsifying agent such as soya lecithin is added, though a few manufacturers prefer to exclude this ingredient for purity reasons and to remain GMO-free (soya is a heavily genetically modified crop), sometimes at the cost of a perfectly smooth texture. Please note that the texture is also heavy influenced by processing, specifically conching. The more expensive chocolates tend to be processed longer and thus have a smoother texture and "feel" on the tongue, regardless of whether emulsifying agents are added.
Different manufacturers develop their own 'signature' blends based on the above formulas but varying proportions of the different constituents used.
The finest plain dark chocolate couvertures contain at least 70% cocoa (solids + butter), whereas milk chocolate usually contains up to 50%. High quality white chocolate couvertures contain only about 33% cocoa. Inferior and mass produced chocolate contains much less cocoa (as low as 7% in many cases) and fats other than cocoa butter. Some chocolate-makers opine that these "brand name" milk chocolate products can not be classed as couverture or even as chocolate, because of the low or virtually non-existent cocoa content.
Conching
The penultimate process is called conching. A conche is a container filled with metal beads, which act as grinders. The refined and blended chocolate mass is kept liquid by frictional heat. The conching process produces cocoa and sugar particles smaller than the tongue can detect, hence the smooth feel in the mouth. The length of the conching process determines the final smoothness and quality of chocolate. High quality chocolate is conched for about 72 hrs, lesser grades about 4-6 hrs. After the process is complete, the chocolate mass is stored in tanks heated to approximately 45-50° C until final processing.
Swiss Cheese
Do you know how many different cheeses there are?
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