{"id":12699,"date":"2022-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-03T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/?p=12699&preview=true&preview_id=12699"},"modified":"2022-05-11T11:11:20","modified_gmt":"2022-05-11T09:11:20","slug":"how-is-chocolate-made","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/2022\/05\/04\/how-is-chocolate-made\/","title":{"rendered":"How is chocolate made?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Chocolate is made from the beans of Theobroma <\/em>cacao, <\/em>a small evergreen tree from the rainforests of South America. Translating as \u2018food of the Gods\u2019 in Greek, its elongated pods grow up to 35cm, and vary in colour from bright yellow to deep purple.<\/p>\n\n

Archaeological evidence suggests we\u2019ve been indulging in cacao products since around 3,300 BC.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
1. Growing<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The Theobroma cacao <\/em>tree is grown in the rainforests of South America.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
2. Splitting<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The cacao pods are harvested, then split open to reveal the beans in a juicy white pulp.<\/p>\n\n

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3. Fermenting<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The pulp and the beans are scooped out, then careful fermentation develops the flavour.<\/p>\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
4. Drying<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The beans are dried to remove moisture content.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
5. Roasting<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Roasting develops the flavour and sterilises the beans, killing microorganisms (like bacteria) on the outer shell.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
6. Cracking<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The roasted beans are cracked, separating the husks from the beans.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
7. Winnowing<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Winnowing removes the lighter husks and dust particles, leaving the heavier beans or \u2018nibs\u2019.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
8. Grinding<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The now shell-less beans are ground up, and sugar is added.<\/p>\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
9. Tempering<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

Slowly heating and cooling the chocolate allows the fats to crystallise uniformly and the chocolate to break with a satisfying snap.<\/p>\n\n

\n\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n
10. Moulding<\/strong><\/h5>\n\n

The mixture is poured into a mould where it cools.<\/p>\n\n

<\/div>
\n

Email your questions to<\/span>
questions@sciencefocus.com<\/a>
or submit on Twitter<\/span>
@sciencefocus<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n

ILLUSTRATIONS: DANIEL BRIGHT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Chocolate is made from the beans of Theobroma cacao, a small evergreen tree from the rainforests of South America. Translating as \u2018food of the Gods\u2019 in Greek, its elongated pods grow up to 35cm, and vary in colour from bright yellow to deep purple. Archaeological evidence suggests we\u2019ve been indulging in cacao products since around […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7013,"featured_media":12302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ub_ctt_via":"","purple_page_number":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_page_number":"","purple_seq_number":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_seq_number":"","purple_source_article":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_article":"","purple_source_issue":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_source_issue":"May-2022","purple_external_id":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_external_id":"May-2022-c07cb971-2320-4048-9c2a-7a75094ff7cd","purple_issue_code":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_issue_code":"|0000089653||","purple_android_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_android_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue377","purple_ios_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_ios_product":"com.focus.magazine.issue377","purple_web_product":"","purple_custom_meta_purple_web_product":"","purple_publication_id":"","purple_migrated":"","kt_blocks_editor_width":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"2022-05-10T12:34:38Z","apple_news_article-theme":"","apple_news_api_id":"04736581-19fe-4806-bd8a-cc796d275c93","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2022-05-11T09:11:27Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/ABHNlgRn-SAa9isx5bSdckw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":true,"apple_news_is_preview":true,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_article_theme":"","apple_news_sections":"[]"},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"stephanieorgan@googlemail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/stephanieorgangooglemail-com\/"},"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2","apple_news_title":""},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198.jpg",417,343,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198-300x247.jpg",300,247,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198.jpg",417,343,false],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198.jpg",417,343,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198.jpg",417,343,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/42\/2022\/05\/353a77e2-de92-4426-8202-53ffbd24c198.jpg",417,343,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"stephanieorgan@googlemail.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/author\/stephanieorgangooglemail-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":1,"uagb_excerpt":"Chocolate is made from the beans of Theobroma cacao, a small evergreen tree from the rainforests of South America. Translating as \u2018food of the Gods\u2019 in Greek, its elongated pods grow up to 35cm, and vary in colour from bright yellow to deep purple. Archaeological evidence suggests we\u2019ve been indulging in cacao products since around…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7013"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12699"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12939,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12699\/revisions\/12939"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}