Chocolate Making Process

The main ingredients in chocolate are chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, sugar and milk. Chocolate making is a very extensive and thoughtful process, especially to those producing Hershey’s Chocolate. The process begins in jungles from Brazil to the Ivory Coast with Cacao trees which grow melon-like fruit harvested by hand. Inside each pod are about 20-40 seeds called cocoa beans that give chocolate its special flavor. The beans go through a process called fermentation for about a week where the shells harden and the rich flavor develops. After they are shipped from surrounding countries and sorted, cocoa beans are roasted in large roasters at very high temperatures. A special machine then separates the shell from the bean called the “nib”. After, the milling process begins which turns the nibs into a liquid called chocolate liquor. Chocolate liquor is a smooth, dark stream of pure chocolate flavor which does not contain alcohol. The combination process begins at the heart of the factory where the chocolate liquor is mixed with other key ingredients such as sugar and milk. This new mixture is then dried into brown powder called chocolate crumb which is used to make milk chocolate. The crumb becomes a thick liquid called chocolate paste once cocoa powder is added. The new paste is now poured into huge vats called conches where rollers smooth out any gritty particles in the crumb. After 24 hours, the paste is ready to be poured into moulds. The moulding machines can fill more than 1,000 moulds per minute with Hershey’s chocolate. The moulds are then set aside to cool and harden into delicious chocolate. Watch the process here!

“Making Chocolate.” Hershey. The Hershey Company, 14 July 2009. Web. 12 May 2010. .