All about cacao

What is cacao?

Cacao refers to pure cacao: this means that only the cacao beans are used, nothing is added nor removed. It also means that the cacao is minimally processed, especially when it comes to heat.

A bar of chocolate from a supermarket would have only 5% to 20% of the active components of cacao left after its processing.

Here are the different steps to prepare cacao:

A red cacao pod on the branch of a tree in the Amazonian forest

A pod of cacao opened showing the beans inside

The harvest

Once ripe, the cacao pods are harvested and open (often with a machete) to get the beans out of the pod. At that point they’re covered by a white juicy pulp (Paula got to taste it and said it tasted like a mix of mango and pineapple).

Beans of cacao covered by white pulp are gathered together to ferment

The fermentation

From there, the beans are gathered in large boxes and left to ferment for up to a week. They are stirred regularly to ensure a uniform fermentation. The action of the fermentation is what gives the beans their chocolatey taste.

The cacao beans are laid out on large panels to dry in the sun

The drying

The beans are then laid down on a sheet and left to dry in the sun for a few more days

The cacao beans are placed on a metal plate and roasted over a wood fire

The roasting

The beans are then roasted, often on a wooden fire. This allows the husks to crackle, which makes it possible to remove them. This mild heat is also “activating” the cacao components and allows to kill the bacteria that developed during the fermentation.

Photo of a cacao bean with its husk removed in half

The peeling

Beans are then hand peeled, which allows for quality control and gives the opportunity to remove the moldy beans.

Another technique used is “winnowing”, where a machine shakes the husks up. Hand picking still needs to be done to make sure to remove the moldy beans.

A stone roller is grinding the cacao beans into paste

The grinding

The nibs are then grounded (often with a stone and slab, or a grinder). They then turn into a paste and are ready to be packed and cooled down.

…and that’s it! You see, it’s pretty “artisanal” in the way that a lot of it is done by hand, and with very little processing. Also nothing is added nor removed.

How do you turn cacao into chocolate?

To turn it into chocolate, a lot of additional actions are needed, here are some of them:

Pressing: The cacao butter is separated from the solid cocoa. This demands a lot of heat, which is diminishing the active components of the cacao.

Dutch processing: The cacao is alkalised to reach a pH of 7 and get less bitter by using a potassium carbonate solution.

Conching: The cacao is mixed and grinded further into a machine, the butter is added back, as well as some sugar. It allows to create the smooth feeling of the chocolate. Dairy can also be added to make milk chocolate. White chocolate is a mix of cacao butter, dairy, sugar and vanilla.

Tempering: The temperature is raised and decreased to align the fat crystals. It creates the “snap” of the chocolate barre when you cut it.

All these actions are removing some of the active components of the cacao.

Wanna know more about how chocolate is made? Check out this super well documented article by How stuff works or this video from C'est pas sorcier for the French speakers here :)

Chocolate chopped into small pieces - Image by Charisse Kenion

Ceremonial-grade cacao

Now you know how cacao is made. But what differentiates the ceremonial-grade cacao from the super food cacao you find at the health store?