Making Chocolates

Tell me one normal person in the world that hasn’t eaten chocolates? Or a person who hates chocolates? The Dentist? I don’t think so. You see, chocolates are one of the most efficient happy drugs in the world. Of course, it isn’t a type of drug but the effects are somewhat similar. It makes you happy, it is addicting and it gives you a feeling of contentment. And if you notice these words, you will know that this would only come out from the mouth of a chocolate lover, like me, of course. Wouldn’t it be nice to know the process of Making Chocolates? Of course, it would be a great thing to know how Cadbury’s or Hershey’s create their chocolates that are oh so yummy and tasty.

How do the Chocolate Making Companies make their chocolates? Well, for the benefit of those who are ignorant to this fact, chocolates are made from the bitter cacao beans which underwent certain processes to create chocolates. But how exactly did they make it?

First, cacao beans are harvested from the cacao tree. This is done by farmers and they will sell the seeds to small and large companies. Some companies buy their own farms and harvest their own beans, but it doesn’t matter. The point is they harvest the seeds from the tree. After harvesting them and acquiring the seeds, they then placed it on an oven to heat it. These beans will be scorched under 120 to 160 degrees of oven heat (that’s 250 – 325 degrees Fahrenheit for you, my friend) for 5 to 35 minutes of hell, that’s almost enough to make the devil chuckle. The large companies does this in a bulk manner meaning, they stock the loads of beans in barrels and rotate it over a gas grill. This is due to the large amount of cacao beans that they need to produce tons of chocolates which they will then send to the whole chocolate world. Ok, back to Making Chocolates. Now, when the beans start to crack, they will lower the temperature to avoid burning it. Cooking time and temperature depends on the type of cacao beans used for there are also different types of cacao beans that produce different distinct tastes. Large companies manually crack the beans. Those beans that can’t be cracked are disposed and those that they managed to crack are kept and are called “Nibs.” These are small bits of cracked cacao seed that are good to go to the next process. The grinding process. This process involves grinding it to form cacao liqueur. To do this, they need a special type of machine for Making Chocolates, separating the Nibs and removing the remaining husks that were not removed in the earlier processes.

Next step is refining the chocolate. This is where the difference between chocolates appears. Refining gives it a distinct taste and different companies, although having the same earlier process has different ways of refining their chocolates. But basically, this is done by using a powerful wet grinder. Refining includes melting the chocolate and cocoa butter in the oven with a temperature of 120 degrees Fahrenheit then adding up the non – fat dry milk powder, sugar, lecithin and vanilla after an hour of melting. Whilst still hot, the mixture is poured down the wet grinder and is refined for a minimum of 10 hours up to a maximum of 36 hours. Then they temper it to achieve that soft and shiny characteristic and finally mold it into the shape that they choose. Large companies have automatic molding machines, so all they do is pour it there until it hardens. Then it is wrapped and shipped to different distributors all over the world.

Making Chocolates is a noble act, a good deed done by select people. Why is that so? Because even if health experts slam this product saying that it would kill you, chocolates do have health benefits and this is already a proven fact. Chocolates have healthy amounts of Flavonoids, which are also found in vegetables and fruits which helps in improving your blood circulation. It also has large amounts of anti – oxidants that remove harmful chemicals out of the body. The sugar that it contains is good enough to give us sufficient amounts of carbohydrates and the fats could help us gain more energy. Last but not the least, it has tryptophan, the known reason in producing serotonin, a chemical in the brain that helps us fight stress and depression as well.

But too much of chocolate will kill you so you should know the limits. Too much of anything is bad, the same with love. Too much love can kill you, so does chocolates. And love and chocolates are very much related.