bean to bar
Willy Wonka was right to bribe the Oompa Loompas with
Cacao Pods for free labor
It's crazy that the Oompa Loompas worshipped just the cacao pod, not even the final product derived from it...but given the 3 week process it took me to do this, I'd be okay with just the whole fruit, too. Do I have respect for the process now? Yes. Will I do this again? No.
​
a ripe cacao pod
the raw cacao fruit whose fruity flesh is slightly sweet. inside are the beans
probably the grossest part of this was letting the beans ferment for weeks & having to stir the rotting fruit every day...10/10 would recommend holding your breath during this.
beans fully washed, dried, & ready to roast...the smell made me forget to take photos after the fermenting process :(
toasty beans
after cooling down, each bean had to be individually husked..an easy task until I looked up to see 400 beans waiting. my thumbs were ready to fall off after about 15 minutes.
also lost track of hucks & nibs, making for a longer time spent organizing the two.
too many husks
only nibs & beans :) the industry standard lets 1.5% husk into the process, the hand peeling lets in less than .5%.
next step is to grind the nibs into a paste and then eventually into a smooth liquor.
many nibs
after about 45min, it turns into a thick & chunky paste
slowly it turns into a smoother liquid after about 6hrs of grinding
cacao butter & sugar are added to bring back the fat content, shine & sweetness to the raw chocolate
shiny, smooth chocolate
poorly poured into chocolate bar molds after being tempered
I did try to sweeten it with maple syrup to make a dairy-free milk chocolate, but the remaining chocolate ended up seizing
the barsssss
barssss
& wrapped
