cocoa trees
cocoa trees- sissies. They are afraid of frost and wind and grow only where it is summer all year round, in a warm and humid climate, and cannot tolerate drought and direct sunlight. If you create suitable conditions for them and constantly care for them, they will produce crops all year round or at least twice a year for 30–80 years. True, even at the time of maturity, these evergreen trees, which can reach a height of 6–8 meters, bear only 30–40 fruits. They are grown in tropical countries - South and Central America, Africa and Asia, and about 70% of the cocoa harvest is harvested in West Africa.
Their Latin name is Theobroma cacao. Its first part means in translation "food of the gods".
In recent years, cocoa trees have begun to be grown in greenhouses and even at home. But there is a lot of trouble with these picky sissies: they need fertile soil, good drainage and a humid climate. Trees should be protected from direct sunlight and wind and watered abundantly. The optimal temperature for growing cocoa trees is 18–20°C; at temperatures of 5°C and below they die.
Cocoa beans
Cocoa beans- these are not fruits, but seeds of the cocoa tree. The fruits themselves are yellow-green or red, almond-shaped, weigh about 500 g. Each contains from 30 to 50 oval seeds measuring 2–2.5 cm, which are called cocoa beans. Such a seed consists of a hard core, which is formed by two cotyledons, an embryo (sprout) and a hard shell (cocoa shell). The seeds ripen for about four months, changing color from green to yellow, and in some varieties from reddish to brown. The color of ripe cocoa beans can range from purple to gray to white. They are distinguished by a bitter, astringent taste that is not at all similar to the taste chocolate or cocoa powder. According to their origin, cocoa beans are divided into three groups: American, African and Asian. The names of commercial varieties correspond to the name of the area of production, country or port of export (for example, Ghana, Nigeria, Cameroon, etc.).
Depending on the quality, cocoa beans are divided into two groups: noble (varietal)– the so-called elite – and consumer (ordinary), which include over 90% of the world's products.
And among the varieties of cocoa they distinguish four groups:
"Criollo", "Trinitario", "Forastero" and "Nacional".
TO noble varieties include “Criollo” and some of the “Trinitario” species, which have a delicate taste and a pleasant, subtle aroma with many shades. Of course, cocoa beans of these varieties are more expensive than consumer, which include “Forastero” and the main part of “Trinitario”, which have a bitter and tart, somewhat sour taste and a less refined aroma. While Forastero accounts for 85% of world cocoa production, Criollo accounts for only about 3%.
Collection and primary processing of cocoa beans
To cocoa tree seeds acquired that unique taste that distinguishes real chocolate, they must undergo a complex processing process.
Ripe fruits are cut with sharp machetes and then divided into several parts. The pulp is removed from the grains and left for several days to allow the fermentation process to take place. They are then dried in the sun or in drying ovens, after which they are reduced in size by about 50%. Cocoa beans become brown in various shades, and their taste becomes softer. After that, they are packed into bags and sent to factories, which are usually located “on the other side of the world” - in North America and Europe.
At the chocolate factory
Who among us as a child did not dream of visiting a chocolate factory to find out “where” the chocolates and sweets we love so much come from? And also - enjoy the magical smells that cannot be confused with any others, and enjoy chocolate of all types and varieties - as much as your heart desires. However, the factory workers themselves have no time to express enthusiastic feelings. The entire process of preparing the “sweet miracle” is strictly regulated and verified literally down to the minute. The grains that arrive at the factories are first cleanse, then sort depending on their size and, finally, fried at a temperature of 120–140°C in rotating drums. Roasting is a very important stage; it is no coincidence that many manufacturers keep its “secrets” secret. After all, the quality of the chocolate depends on how well the grains are roasted; as a result of this process, its aroma and taste are “revealed.” Elite cocoa beans are roasted at lower temperatures, which gives them a very delicate aroma.
Then the beans are ground and part of the cocoa mass is placed under a hydraulic press. This removes excess fat. If it is 54% in raw chocolate, then in cocoa powder it is already 10% or less.
As a result of this processing of cocoa beans, cocoa mass, cocoa butter and cocoa cake. The first two semi-finished products, along with powdered sugar, are used to make chocolate, and cocoa cake is used to produce cocoa powder, from which cocoa drinks and various desserts are prepared. During the next stage of processing, the resulting slurry is ground and other ingredients are added to it: cocoa butter, sugar and vanilla. This mass is then crushed and subjected to conching: stir, heating to 50–80 °C, due to which excess moisture is removed from it and the chocolate mass becomes more homogeneous. While regular chocolate is conched for only a few hours, the highest quality chocolate can take up to five days to conchate.
Then the stage begins tempering: The chocolate mass is cooled to a certain temperature and then heated. In this case, cocoa butter crystals of a certain type are formed so that, as a result, thickening, the chocolate can become shiny and hard. If at some stage the preparation technology is violated, the surface of the chocolate will become covered with a whitish coating after some time, which means that the product will not meet the required quality standards.
Porous chocolate Before tempering, they foam, saturating the liquid mass with carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Later they are released and form “bubbles”, which can have different sizes and shapes.
Who doesn't love chocolate? There is probably no such person on earth: milk or black, with nuts or raisins, porous or regular - everyone finds their favorite bar in chocolate, and in addition to its extraordinary taste, chocolate also improves your mood.
In short, chocolate is a big plus! And let them talk as much as they want about its harm to the figure, a piece of dark chocolate has never harmed anyone. But few people thought about how chocolate is produced, everyone knows that chocolate contains cocoa beans, but how do they get there and as a result we get chocolate with different percentages. And since few people know about this further, we will talk about chocolate production.
For the base of chocolate, as already mentioned, you need cocoa beans; cocoa beans are mainly grown in America, Australia and Asia. Delivered cocoa beans are sorted by hand and packaged for further drying; they generally take about a week to dry.
Next, the cocoa beans are cleaned and roasted at a certain temperature. Roasting beans is a very important and responsible process, because... The taste of chocolate depends on the degree of roasting.
Therefore, manufacturers often keep the roasting temperature and time a secret, because during the roasting of the beans, the full aroma and taste of cocoa is revealed. After this, the roasted beans are ground and squeezed to remove excess fat.
The result is cocoa butter and cocoa mass, both ingredients are necessary for further chocolate production. By mixing these two ingredients, a porridge is obtained, to which the following ingredients are added, such as vanilla, sugar, etc.
The resulting mixture undergoes a special conching process, the essence is that the mixture is heated to a certain temperature and mixed, the process removes unnecessary moisture, and the mixture becomes more homogeneous. If you need porous chocolate, then the mass is foamed and saturated with carbon dioxide, and as a result you get the bubbles we all love. This process can last from several hours to several days; for elite varieties of chocolate, this stage can reach several days.
Then the next stage - the chocolate is cooled and heated again, it is at this moment that the surface of the chocolate becomes shiny and glossy, as we are used to seeing it. If there is a violation of the technology, then crystallization is disrupted and the chocolate acquires a white coating, this is also often found in bars.
In principle, at this stage the chocolate is considered ready, it is poured into molds, and all sorts of additives are added there, such as raisins, nuts, candied fruits, etc. The chocolate hardens and is then packaged. For milk chocolate production At the stage of preparing the chocolate mass, milk powder is added.
As we can see, the process of making chocolate is quite simple, and some people prepare chocolate at home. But still, store-bought is much tastier, because all temperatures and time intervals are maintained there, and what a wide selection of fillings there is on store shelves.
Eat chocolate and enjoy eating this sweet masterpiece!
Video - how delicious chocolate is made:
Many people know what chocolate is made from: cocoa beans and cocoa butter. Chocolate can be called the most popular sweet among both children and adults. It contains substances that affect a person’s emotional state, namely the feeling of joy and love.
You need to figure out what chocolate is made from. This is a confectionery product that is prepared on the basis of cocoa beans, or, more precisely, their oil.
It is obtained by processing beans. They are peeled and fried, resulting in a dark brown color. They produce three main components: grated cocoa, butter and cake. Chocolate products are made from a combination of powdered sugar, cocoa mass and butter, and cocoa powder is made from cake.
Cocoa beans are rich in caffeine and theobromine and naturally have a tart taste. And the chocolate itself in most cases contains various flavoring additives. These include vanillin, mint oil, coffee, cognac, and in some recipes alcohol and hot pepper are added. The filling can also be different, for example, nuts, candied fruits, raisins, waffles and even pieces of roasted cocoa beans are added to chocolate products.
How chocolate is made
The production process is divided into several stages or technological stages, namely:
- Processing of cocoa beans and further separating them into individual ingredients such as cocoa liquor, butter and solids.
- Cocoa liquor is subjected to heat treatment at a temperature of 100˚C, after which it is pressed.
- After mixing grated cocoa, cocoa butter and sugar, a chocolate mass or technical chocolate is obtained, which is then crushed into crumbs: the smaller the pieces, the tastier and more tender the chocolate product will be.
- The most important step is tempering the chocolate mass. This means that the heated mass is cooled and then heated again. This procedure is necessary to add shine to the chocolate product.
- Next, various flavors and fillers are added to the chocolate mass, and then the confectionery products are formed by pouring the mass into special molds.
- After cooling, the stage of packaging the finished product begins.
Composition of modern chocolate
When purchasing a chocolate treat, you need to consider what the chocolate is made of. Today, factories offer a wide range of such products, but often instead of chocolate we get a sweet bar. Unscrupulous manufacturers add not only the necessary components to the product, but also vegetable fats and soy. In this case, the result is not a pure product, but a chocolate bar that does not contain the required concentration of nutrients.
High-quality chocolate must melt at a temperature equal to that of the human body, which is why it melts so well in the mouth.
Bad chocolate will not melt like that, because unnecessary impurities and fats slow down this process.
You should pay special attention to what chocolate is made from, and specifically to the percentage of cocoa beans and additives in the finished product. For example, dessert or semi-bitter chocolate must contain at least 50% cocoa powder, bitter chocolate must contain 60% or more, and milk chocolate must not exceed the 30% barrier. The amount of added sugar directly depends on the type of chocolate. The classic composition includes:
- proteins: from 5 to 8%;
- fats: from 30 to 40%;
- carbohydrates: 5 to 6%;
- alkaloids: no more than 0.5%;
- minerals and tannins: no more than 1%.
All confectionery factories produce chocolate depending on the category of consumers. After all, what is allowed for adults is not necessarily allowed for children. For example, chocolate is prepared for children with the addition of a significant amount of dairy products and with a smaller percentage of cocoa liquor. There are also special sweets with vitamin supplements.
In order to expand the range of products, chocolate is produced in various forms, namely:
- in the form of monolithic or porous tiles;
- in the form of a monolithic or porous bar with and without various fillings;
- in the form of accessories, medals, coins and various figures, for example, animals, cars and so on;
- in the form of decorations or semi-finished products, with the help of which it is possible to make all kinds of confectionery products.
Variety of chocolate
Today, several types of chocolate are known, which are made with the addition of various components, such as cocoa beans, lecithin, palm or cocoa butter, as well as various flavors and fillings. The main types of chocolate include:
- Milk is lighter in appearance than and sweeter in taste. It is prepared with the addition of dry ingredients, namely milk and cream;
- Bitter can contain up to 90% beans. This cocoa content gives chocolate a bitter taste, but adding a certain amount of sugar helps smooth it out. This type of chocolate is considered the healthiest.
- White or cream chocolate does not contain cocoa beans, only their oil. It is prepared with the addition of milk powder, sugar and vanillin.
- It is produced using special technologies: this means placing filled molds with chocolate mixture in vacuum boilers, which contribute to the appearance of air bubbles.
- Chocolate for diabetics contains sugar substitutes, namely: sorbitol, xylitol and others.
- Powdered chocolate can be either dessert or regular. It is made from grated beans and powdered sugar, and may contain dry ingredients such as milk powder and cream. The main difference between dessert powder and regular powder is the concentration of sugar.
The effect of chocolate on the human body
The composition of chocolate has a positive effect on the performance and mental activity of the human brain. It helps the body cope with various stresses, both emotional and physical, and helps alleviate feelings of anxiety and excitement. Back in Soviet times, patients in cardiology departments were prescribed dark chocolate in certain doses. Because it prevents various cardiovascular diseases and helps with blood pressure and blood clots in the arteries.
Along with beneficial qualities, there are also negative aspects, for example, with unlimited consumption of chocolate, the risk of diseases such as obesity or diabetes increases. Such problems also arise due to the fact that manufacturers, in an attempt to make huge profits, add various substances to products that negatively affect the human body.
To avoid such consequences, you need to buy sweets only after making sure of their quality. You should pay attention to the surface of the chocolate: it should be shiny, and if the product has additives, such as raisins or nuts, then matte. The consistency should be firm and without visible deformations, pleasant to the taste and smell. Chocolate without filling and additives should be stored for no more than six months, and with additives - no more than three. White is considered a perishable product compared to other types, since its shelf life should not exceed one month.
How to properly store chocolate
When purchasing such sweets, you need to pay attention to the production date. It is strictly forbidden to eat expired chocolate, as its beneficial properties are lost.
It's best in a cool, dark place, but that doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be kept in the refrigerator. At sub-zero temperatures, condensation forms on the surface of the chocolate product, as a result of which the chocolate becomes covered with light spots and loses its taste characteristics. The optimal storage temperature is from +3 to +18˚С, and humidity should not exceed 75%. Chocolate products should not be exposed to ultraviolet radiation and should not remain unpackaged for a long time.
This leads to the appearance of greasy stains on the surface of the chocolate, which can become the basis for the appearance of various types of fungus and mold. Racks are considered the ideal place for storage.
One day, my little daughters heard on the radio that chocolate trees grow in hot tropical countries. Wow! They drew a funny picture: a huge garden with spreading trees - ripe chocolate bunnies hanging on one, large heavy slabs of dark chocolate hanging from another, chocolate with nuts ripening on the third...
Now the daughters have grown up and know that all these goodies are made in confectionery factories, and on chocolate trees it is not chocolates that grow, but cocoa beans - plant raw materials, from which they then obtain a delicious delicacy loved by adults and children all over the planet. The beans are collected and sold to all countries of the world where it is impossible to grow them. Including, of course, to Russia.
And to find out how cocoa beans turn into real chocolate, we decided to go to one of the oldest Russian “sweet” enterprises, which is now called Babaevskoye OJSC. Margarita Mikhailovna Kostyuk, a technologist at a confectionery factory, told us about this. And not only told, but also showed.
First, we went up to the workshop where cocoa beans are sorted using special equipment, sent by conveyor to the roasting department, then fried and cooled. I tried one of these fried nuts. Terribly tasteless and bitter. Until the taste of your favorite chocolate is not captured at all!
Cocoa nibs - dry and aromatic - move to the next installation: two massive disks with protruding “fingers” rotate at great speed in different directions, spinning grains of beans in their frantic dance. And - a miracle! -- at the exit from the installation, cocoa no longer pours out, but... flows. The grain has turned into a mushy flowing mass! It turns out that each bean contains more than half of the cocoa butter. By rubbing dry grains between the rotating fingers of the discs, the unit releases oil, which changes the consistency of the supplied mass. After all, liquid cocoa mass, as it is now called, is more convenient for pumping to the next workshop where chocolate masses are prepared.
The recipe for all chocolates without exception includes cocoa mass, cocoa butter and powdered sugar. The main thing is to mix them together in certain proportions.
This is where the computer comes to the rescue. The weight of each of the components is entered into it, and the computer begins to direct: serve cocoa mass! And now - butter! Powder! And the required component is supplied to the scales from the required container in the required quantity. 
“I personally especially love our signature “Babaevsky” chocolate,” says Margarita Mikhailovna. -- Cognac and tea extract are also added to it, giving it a special flavor. But in “Children’s” they don’t put any additional components.
After the required weight of all ingredients is measured, the sluice valves are closed, and the mass is sent first to the mixer, and then to the conche machine for thorough kneading. 
The mixed mass - it is almost chocolate, only liquid and hot - is pumped to the next workshop for casting, where large and small, with and without filling, bitter and sweet, figured and flat chocolates are produced on a slab machine. It turns out that cocoa beans travel a long way before they fall from the chocolate tree into our hands and melt in our mouths. But how beautiful it turns out! And delicious! 
Before entering the factory, I, inhaling the bitter aroma and swallowing my saliva, dreamed of trying all the varieties and appreciating the taste at every stage of preparation. But, as you now understand, it’s not really possible to taste while working: there are machines, machines around, everything is spinning and spinning. And as the pleasure was delayed, the appetite grew more and more. But when the long-awaited moment of taking the sample finally arrived, it turned out that chocolate was not food after all. Each variety is a unique, often exquisite delicacy that is not eaten but enjoyed.
Museum
The Pobeda confectionery factory has two production facilities in Russia, and both of them are located in the Moscow region, in the Yegoryevsky district. Various confectionery products are made here, from chocolate bars and sweets to marmalade. All factories are full-cycle production facilities. That is, the chocolate for making chocolate bars and candies is made at the factory independently and according to its own recipes. This year the company opened a branch in Latvia - this is how it plans to establish supplies to the European market. The Village went to Yegoryevsk to see what and how sweets are made from.
Preparation of raw materials
From the outside, the building gives no hint that inside there are rivers of chocolate flowing through the pipes, and mountains of sweets and marmalade are moving along the conveyors. A factory is like a factory. But as soon as we walked inside, we immediately smelled chocolate. It became clear that we were exactly in the right place. As usual, we put on disposable gowns, slippers, shoe covers and washed our hands and went to production.
Everything starts from the warehouse and ends there - raw materials are stored separately, there is also a room for finished products. The raw materials are packaged in boxes and large bags, on some of which we see the inscriptions “Made in Ivory Coast”, “Made in Malaysia” or “Made in the Netherlands”. To make chocolate, you need, among other things, cocoa butter and cocoa liquor, and for candy fillings - vegetable fat (it uses a fraction of palm oil).The equivalent of cocoa butter is sometimes added to the fillings - this is a mixture of palm oil with other exotic oils.
The first stage of preparing the components is melting, since they are all solid. All this happens in ovens: an employee unpacks a cardboard box containing a large rectangular briquette of beige cocoa liquor, vegetable fat or cocoa butter (the ovens for the last two components are called “fat melters”), and throws it into the oven. There the temperature is about 85 degrees for grated cocoa and 65–70 degrees for cocoa butter and vegetable fats (the temperature is not universal, everything is individual for different equipment and raw materials). It is important that there are three separate fireboxes: for confectionery fat, for grated cocoa and for cocoa butter. Their streams are not mixed unless necessary for the formulation. Then the components, which are already in a liquid state, enter the tank through pipes, where they are weighed. Employees pour dry ingredients such as cocoa powder, sugar and various substitutes (stevia, fructose, lactose), dry milk (whole, skim), dry cream or whey into metal containers, then they are automatically dosed using a vacuum.
Preparation of chocolate mass
After the components are prepared, they all flow through pipes to the recipe station. Here they are weighed again and, according to the recipe, are sent to the chocolate mass preparation workshop. Here, in a container with a capacity of one and a half tons, all the ingredients are found and mixed with cocoa butter and sugar. But the mass is not ready yet: it is hard, and the sugar in it crunches. You need to grind the sugar crystals into powder. This happens in a special container where there is a pair of metal shafts that grind the mass to 90 microns. It is then passed through five-roll mills, which look like huge rotating rolling pins pointing vertically. The mass is passed between the shafts and gradually reaches the last one, from which it is removed with a metal knife.
In the form of chips, it enters the conche machine, where it is kneaded for 10–12 hours. The conching process is responsible for developing the flavor in the chocolate mass. By kneading, heating, opening or closing metal blinds, you can change the taste. For example, if it is milk chocolate, then when it is heated to 80 degrees and the metal shutters are closed, all the aroma of cocoa remains inside, and the sugar caramelizes, so the output can be a mass with a caramel taste. If the factory wants to soften the taste of dark chocolate, then metal curtains are opened on the conche machine to release the acids from the grated cocoa.
The filling for chocolate candies is prepared in a similar way - all the ingredients are crushed in five-roll mills and kneaded in conche machines. Only cocoa butter with soft vegetable fat is taken as a basis. In wafer candies, the filling differs from chocolate ones in texture, components and manufacturing principles. It is prepared in a ball mill - a container in which metal balls not only grind the ingredients, but also beat them a little.
Production of chocolates and chocolate
The chocolate mass, at a temperature of 28 to 31 degrees, is fed to an automatic installation, through which it travels to molds for chocolate bars. The molds are preheated so that the chocolate does not harden immediately when it hits them. After the mold is filled, it first passes through a vibration zone: the conveyor shakes it so that, firstly, excess air bubbles come out of the chocolate, and secondly, this way the chocolate is distributed evenly along a given edge.
Then the molds go to the refrigeration tunnel, where the chocolate spends from 20 to 40 minutes at a temperature of 10–15 degrees. After the cooled forms are automatically turned over using a special drum, and the tiles are easily removed from them. This happens because chocolate shrinks by a millimeter at low temperatures and becomes smaller than the mold. There are a minimum number of people working on this line: one employee monitors the flow of mass into the plant, the other monitors the weight of the product. Metal detectors are installed everywhere: chocolate must be safe, without foreign inclusions.
The tiles enter the packaging machine: here everything happens automatically. Then the product is manually packed into boxes, workers check the dates, integrity and correctness of the packaging. Those products that do not pass the inspection are sent to the container as defective. True, such waste is not thrown away, but processed and put back into production. Chocolate with additives like nuts and raisins is not made here; all this is produced at the site in Klemenovo.
The candy mass is also heated first. Both the chocolate mass and the filling are fed to the installation at the same time. In order not to mix them, the masses are separated into their own channels, which go to the nozzles - holes. Inside such a nozzle there is another one: the filling is fed through the inner hole, and the chocolate mass is fed through the outer hole, with a slight delay. Then the candies also pass through the vibration zone and enter the refrigeration tunnel. If there should be a nut in the candy, then a special nut handler adds it: needle-like fingers dip the nut into the filling. Near the exit from the tunnel (at the plant they call it “evacuating candies”) a knock is periodically heard: when the molds are turned over, they knock on them so that nothing remains inside. Next comes automatic packaging and packing: some candies are put into bags, others into boxes.
How waffles are made
The production of wafer sweets begins with mixing the dough for the wafer sheet. It contains water, flour, chicory and malt in the form of concentrate. The factory decided to remove the egg yolk from the recipe: it is this, according to Pobeda experts, that, firstly, gives the waffle a not very pleasant smell, and secondly, makes it soft, not crispy. The dough is prepared in a small volume - only 20 liters per batch. It is mixed in a special centrifuge.
The finished dough is fed through a distribution pipe into a storage tank, to which a comb is connected that distributes the dough over the stove. The volume of one portion of dough is calculated so that when closing this frying pan with small-cage doors, the dough will be distributed over the entire surface. The covered pan goes into the oven and the sheet is baked for three minutes. Afterwards, all the sheets go into a special chamber: the oven can bake the waffles unevenly, and in this cabinet the humidity of all the sheets is balanced.
Next, the filling is spread on the waffles. It is pre-beaten in a mixer to a certain density, cooled and fed to the rollers under pressure. Their operating principle is the same as that of a roll-on deodorant: as soon as the sheet fits, the roller passes over it, transferring the filling to the wafer. Then another wafer sheet is placed on top, automatically pressed, and then the workpiece enters the cooling cabinet. Afterwards, the product, which looks like a cake, is served for slicing: knives first cut it lengthwise and then width. Special rollers and guides separate the candies from each other. Then all the waffles are poured with chocolate, pass through a vibration zone and are again sent to the refrigeration tunnel, from where they go directly to the packaging and packaging workshop.
By the way, factory employees can try everything that is produced here. True, not in the workshop, but they can take a handful of sweets and chocolates with them for lunch. All finished products are sent to the warehouse, and from there to stores in Russia, CIS countries, Germany and even the USA.
