Cocoa beans are the seeds found in the pod of the chocolate tree. It is from them that cocoa powder and cocoa butter are obtained, which are used to make chocolate.
Cocoa bean processing
In addition to the pulp, cocoa fruits contain from 30 to 50 large seeds of an unusual lavender color. These seeds (or beans) are approximately 45-50% fat, known as cocoa butter, and the dry matter from which cocoa powder is made.
The seeds extracted from the fruit are fermented for a week in special ventilated boxes, then dried in the sun (sometimes heated air installations are used) and fried. Cocoa beans processed in this way darken and harden. The dried weight of the bean is approximately 1 gram.
After drying, the beans are exported to confectionery plants in various countries for further processing. There they are fried again, and then cooled very quickly. Thereafter, each bean is split into several particles, the size of which is about 8 mm. Then these particles are treated with alkali to destroy various microorganisms and fungi. The resulting "groats" are ground on rollers or mills to a powder state, from which cocoa butter is then squeezed out under very high pressure on hydraulic presses. After the end of squeezing, cocoa cake is unloaded from the press, which is additionally ground into cocoa powder again.
Two types of cocoa beans
Cocoa beans can be divided into two groups - "consumer" and "noble". The former are sometimes called “forastero”, which means “alien”, and the latter are called “criollo”, which is translated from Spanish as “native”. The fruits of the first group are quite hard and yellow in color, the fruits of the second group are soft and red. "Criollo" have a pleasant nutty flavor, "forastero" are bitter and have a rather specific smell, so they have to ferment twice as long.
Noble cocoa beans are cultivated mainly in Indonesia and America. Consumer cocoa beans occupy a leading position in the world market, they are inferior to noble ones in aromatic and taste properties, but they have a high yield and are not too capricious.
The taste of cocoa beans depends on the climatic conditions and soil in the place of growth, as well as genetic characteristics. This is why confectioners always pay attention to the growing area. Often during processing, cocoa beans from different regions are blended to obtain the optimal bouquet of aromas and flavors.
It is believed that cocoa beans contain over 300 different substances, with one in six of them responsible for a specific, complex cocoa flavor. The composition of cocoa beans includes fats, proteins, cellulose, polysaccharides, starch, tannins, minerals, flavoring and coloring substances, salts, saccharides, organic acids, caffeine.
