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On the Farm
Cacao
Good Chocolate begins on the farm. Cacao trees are tended to and their pods are harvested. The fruit and seeds are picked from the pods and are fermented and dried. The fermentation plays a key process in introducing and developing important flavors in the cacao beans.
Arrival at the factory
Roasting
Upon arrival, we analyze the characteristics of each origin of bean. The flavors of the raw beans will help determine how we roast them. If the beans have more bright, fruity potential we will generally do a lighter roast to preserve those flavors. If the beans have more creamy, earthy, and deep cocoa notes we generally do a darker roast to develop and caramelize those flavors
beans to nibs
Cracking and Winnowing
After roasting, we need to remove the husks from the cocoa beans. The beans are cracked into small pieces and run through a winnowing machine. A vacuum pulls out the light husks, and the heavier, denser nibs remain
Chocolate!
Grinding - Melanging
The cocoa nibs are placed in a stone grinder, called a melanger, and ground into very fine particles. This process also evaporates off harsh flavors from the fermentation process. As the nibs are ground, the natural butter from the cocoa is released and friction from the grinding melts the butter, turning everything into a liquid. We now have 100% chocolate! Sugar is now added and given time to grind down. For a 70% dark chocolate bar, we add 70% cocoa nibs and 30% sugar.
Let's crystalize it
Tempering and Molding
Before molding, the liquid chocolate must be tempered. As cocoa butter cools, it forms into six different crystals, all of which form at different temperatures and have different characteristics. One of the crystals forms right around 90 F and has a nice snapping texture. That is the crystal we want. To form these crystals, the chocolate undergoes a process of heating, cooling, and heating, called tempering. As the desired crystals form, the chocolate is molded into bars and chilled. We now have finished chocolate bars!
Caption
Packaging
Now we need to get the chocolate bars to you safely and unmelted. We seal our bars in biodegradable cellophane bags and wrapped in cardstock packaging. To ship during the warm months, we use expedited shipping with insulated bags and cold pouches as necessary.