Chocolate is favorite for most people. And some love making chocolate themselves from scratch. It is a preparation of roasted and ground cacao seeds which is liquidified, or made into a paste, or in a block. This may also be used as a flavoring ingredient in other foods. Dating from 19 centuries BCE, Olmec sites (Mexico’s post-colonial territory) suggest consumption of chocolate beverages. The majority of Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Maya and Aztecs. The word chocolate is derived from the Spanish word chocolate, deriving in turn from the Classical Nahuatl word xocolātl.

Below the main steps starting from scratch:

Harvesting - Ripe cocoa pods are harvested twice a year which are cut open with machetes and the white pulp containing the cocoa beans is taken out.

Fermenting - The pods and pulp are placed into large wooden containers, where the pulp is allowed to ferment for five to seven days. This has great impact on quality of the finished chocolate.

Drying - Drying is usually done by spreading them out into a single layer in the sun in order to prevent mold

Roasting - This is done by the chocolate maker. The exact temperature and roast time are part of the chocolate maker’s (often secret) recipe and requires a lot of experimentation and lots of tasting.

Cracking and Winnowing - The beans are cracked open and the shell is removed in a process called winnowing. The lighter shells are blown away with fans, leaving behind pieces of pure cocoa bean, known as “nibs”.

Grinding and Conching - The cocoa nibs are ground to become paste known as cocoa mass or cocoa liquor. Cocoa butter can be extracted from the cocoa mass with a hydraulic press. This is useful because most chocolate makers often use extra cocoa butter to give their chocolate a smoother, glossier texture.

Tempering - Tempering is the controlled process of raising, lowering and raising the temperature of the chocolate to form exactly the right kind of crystals.

Moulding - The last step is to pour the mass in moulds. Larger companies use machines to do this. However many small manufacturers still do this by hand. Once cooled, the chocolate is wrapped and ready to go!

Chocolate is one of the most popular food types and flavors in the world. Many desserts, cakes, pudding, mousse, chocolate brownies, and chocolate chip cookies are by-productsof chocolate. Many candies and bars are made of, filled with or coated with sweetened chocolate.

At HobbyLancer, you will come across various chocolate makers from around the globe. Explore the category to see the different varieties this segment has to offer. We allow you a platform to sell or buy products from anywhere.