Making Chocolate: from Bean to Bar

Our Spanish school, PeruWayna, offers multiple activities each week for students. One night we attended a Salsa dancing class. Asher sat this one out, but Daddy, Journey and I enjoyed it. 

Another day, we joined a few other students for a class on making chocolate from the bean to the bar. Choco is a chocolate shop and restaurant across from Kennedy Park where you can learn the whole process.

After donning aprons, we went outside to learn about cacao trees and the fermenting process. First, I should answer the question you probably already have.... What's the difference between cocoa and cacao? Cacao is the plant and bean that chocolate comes from. Cocoa is the product resulting from processing the cacao bean. 

Ten species of cacao can be found in the tropical areas of the world, 6 of them grow in Peru. The San Martín region is the biggest producer in Peru. Each tree produces about 60 pods and there are 20-60 seeds/beans per pod. 

Pods can be yellow, green, red, or orange in color and if rattles when shaken, it's ripe.

The beans are covered in a white pulp. While we've enjoyed the cotton candy-like flavor of the pulp in Ecuador, the beans are quite bitter. The beans are set on trays and covered with banana leaves to ferment for 5-7 days, until the beans turn brown. 

Next we heat fermented seeds in a pot for 30 minutes or so, stirring constantly.

After roasting, tap with pestle to crack the shells open. Remove the shells. 

You can use the shells to make chocolate tea. It smells better than it tastes. Very bitter alone.

Next, pound the seeds to small pieces, also called cocoa nibs. 

Keep grinding until it begins to have a paste consistency. This is cacao butter.

Blend the cacao butter with boiling water, honey and chili powder, then strain to make a traditional hot chocolate type of drink.

To make chocolate bars, they add sugar and milk to the cacao butter. They brought out a variety of items to add to the molds before pouring the chocolate in. 

Done and delicious!