Stages of the manufacture of chocolate:
It is adored by all people; how many of us fell in love with it? Guessed what it is?

Chocolate

All of us crave it every now and then. But do you know how such delicious and tasty pieces became in our reach? I will tell you.

The main chocolate dough is composed of cocoa seeds. Cocoa trees are implanted in several countries, such as Brazil, Indonesia, Ag Beach, Ghana, as well as the tropical jungles, and are perennial, ever-green trees. Cocoa fruits are similar to sweet melon ones; they are reaped by hand, and mostly used for chocolate making, after going through some initial phases such as fermentation, storage, roasting, and grinding. Thus, cocoa fruits turn into a liquid that is ready for the manufacture phase. At this point chocolate making and preparation start. Genuine chocolate is made of cocoa dough (No less than 32% of the product’s ingredients), sugar (Sucrose, with a percentage ranging from 55% to 65% of the product’s ingredients), different spices, and, in some cases, little cocoa butter, and lecithin.

Sweet chocolate contain approximately 40% Cocoa, and 60% sugar, whereas unsweetened chocolate contains 60% cocoa, and 40% sugar. Good chocolate must be distinguished by a clear, joyous cocoa taste; it must also be greasy to some extent, and can be broken when slightly pressed. Then, the broken surface should look very soft and consistent. So, first stage in its manufacture and preparation begins as follows:

1- Blending
In such stage, basic ingredients (including chocolate liquid, chocolate butter, milk, and soft sugar) are mixed together. In the main blending process, chocolate ingredients are mixed. Then, the mixture gets dry to become a hard brown powder known as (Chocolate Crumb).
This powder is made for milk chocolate manufacture, and some factories add cocoa to give the rich, creamy taste of chocolate.

2- Grinding
The powder passes through a grinding machine which makes it softer; then the chocolate dough, known as (Chocolate paste), is made.

3- Softening

The dough is transferred to another machine that softens hard parts. This process takes approximately 24 to 72 hours to be completed, then the dough is cooled to suitable temperatures, and other products, such as almonds, peanuts, or any other kind of nuts, are added according to chocolate type and to the product.