Ever wondered how chocolate

is made?  

The delicious creation begins its journey as cacao beans, hidden in vibrant pods and surrounded by sweet, tangy white pulp. From the tropical farms to your taste buds, the chocolate-making process is a fascinating blend of tradition, science, and craftsmanship. Our cacao pods from Ecuador can be used to make delicious chocolate at home and even the professional chocolatiers use them!

Cacao trees, also known as Theobroma cacao, are a small evergreen tree native to the rainforests of Central and South America. These trees thrive in tropical climates, and the pollinated flowers on the tree develop into berries, called pods. These take five or six months to mature and ripen on the tree. That’s when we then receive our cacao pods here in the UK at My Exotic Fruit HQ. You can eat the cocoa pulp raw; they have a unique fruitiness with a combination of soursop and mangosteen in texture and taste.

Fermentation

The first step in the making chocolate is fermentation of cacao beans.

We are proud to supply our cacao to several chocolate companies. From Nestle & Hotel Chocolat to small-batch chocolate makers in Kent, N2 Sweet Lab, who create indulgent artisan chocolate.

Head over to their Instagram to watch the initial fermentation process. They pour their hearts into their craft to create something that can bring others joy and be a part of special moments.

These beans, still coated in their juicy, fruity pulp, are then placed in shallow boxes or banana leaves to ferment for several days. This stage is where the real magic happens, fermentation develops the deep chocolate flavours we all love, by mellowing the bitterness.

Following fermentation, the beans are then further dried either in natural sunlight which is the traditional way and can take up to 8 days, or with a dehydrator, this reduces the moisture content and enhances the flavour even more.

Roasting

The next step is roasting to develop the flavour further and helps get rid of acidity, while sterilising the beans from micro-organisms.

Roasting is an art, bringing unique flavours as different temperatures and times create varying flavour profiles, from nutty to fruity notes.

Once roasted, the beans are cracked open to remove their outer shells, revealing the cacao nibs inside. These nibs are the pure essence of chocolate. This is known as Cacao winnowing.

The cacao nibs are ground up and this is where sugar is added to make it sweeter, and they become a thick, smooth paste.