How Chocolate is Made

We all love chocolate here at Eataly, especially around the holidays and Valentine’s Day. As we unwrap that next delectable morsel, we’re wondering how chocolate is actually made: where it comes from, how we get from a bitter bean to something that melts in your mouth, and how we can get even more of it all the time.

Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, originally from Central and South America. Just like how there is a “Wine Belt” around the world where grape vines thrive, the “Cacao Belt” is found right around the equator extending about 10° north and south. Here, a warm and humid climate with lots of rain meets the partial shade of rainforests to create the perfect habitat for cacao trees.

The fruit from a cacao tree is called a pod. There are different varieties of cacao trees and pods from the different varieties will ripen to bold reds, yellows, and even purples. Each pod contains 20 to 60 cocoa beans, and trees will only produce 50 to 60 pods a year. It takes around 400 beans to make one pound of chocolate, so these trees are in high demand!

Cacao pods have to be hand-harvested to prevent the tree from damage. Pods can ripen all year round, but there are two main harvest times: from November to January and May to July.  Once harvested, the pods are cracked open and the seeds, covered in a sweet pulp, are removed.

Both the beans and pulp are then moved to a fermentation area and piled in boxes or large heaps. Just like with wine, the fermentation process creates heat and breaks down the pulp, so workers need to stir the beans to create an even process. After 5 days, the beans turn dark brown and develop a rich, chocolatey flavor.

While some moisture has left the beans from the fermentation process, they still have too much water to be turned into chocolate. The beans are spread out in the sunshine to dry for 7 to 14 days. Once the beans are dried, they’re easy to snap, which is key for making chocolate. The dried beans are inspected for mold, other imperfections, and pod fragments. From here, the beans are bagged and sold to chocolate makers for the next part of the process.

Once they reach the chocolate-making facility, the beans are roasted at 210°F for about 15 minutes to enhance the flavor and loosen the shell. After roasting, the beans are “winnowed” to remove the shell and pull out the nib — the inside (and most important part) of the cacao bean. Some producers will roast the nibs again to help develop the flavor further.

Around 50% of the cocoa nib is fat, also known as cocoa butter. The nibs are ground until a liquid (cocoa liquor) is made. Just add sugar to the cocoa liquor, and you’ve got chocolate. Different ratios of cocoa nibs with the other ingredients create the styles of chocolate: add milk powder to get Milk Chocolate, have less cocoa butter and sugar (a higher ratio of nibs) to have bittersweet 70–90% Dark Chocolate, have no sugar to get unsweetened chocolate. Cocoa butter can be extracted as a separate ingredient.

The chocolate mixture, now the texture of a thick cake batter, must be refined even further to remove any grittiness. This process transforms the cocoa mass into a powder. This is then reliquefied through “conching,” where friction and heat remelt the cocoa butter. This process can take anywhere from a few hours to several days to reach the finest quality of chocolate.

Once the larger batch is mixed, the chocolate can be used in different formats. A common next step to take large format chocolate into bite-sized treats is “tempering.” Chocolate is slowly heated and cooled, which aligns the crystals to stabilize. Un-tempered chocolate is dull and soft, while tempered chocolate has a beautiful shine with a sharp snap when cracked.

From here, the chocolate is ready to be enjoyed! From filled pralines to solid chocolate bars and gianduja, there’s a delectable world of Italian chocolate. If your mouth is watering for some perfect, rich chocolate, check out our new Eataly Signature Chocolates to find the perfect treat. Shop in-store, online, or get local delivery for next your chocolate fix.