Chocolate

The enticingly rich chocolate so familiar to lovers of sweets is derived from the fruits (or beans) of the tropical cacao tree, through a long and complicated process beginning with the type of tree from which they are picked. There are three main species of cacao that yield the desirable fruit: criollo, forastero, and trinitario. Criollo is the rarest and most expensive bean. It is less acrid than the others and has an intense fragrance. Forastero is the most common bean used in the manufacture of cocoa and chocolate. It is hardy, full-flavored, and affordable for mass production. Trinitario, a mild-flavored hybrid of the other two beans, is not commonly used in commercial production. The fruit from each is a football-shaped pod that turns red, orange, or yellow when ripe and is hand-harvested at exactly the proper stage of ripeness. Each pod contains from thirty to fifty seeds held in a sticky, white pulp. The pods are split and the seeds are removed along with the pulp, then left to ferment for a few days. During fermentation, the white pulp decomposes, and the beans begin to lose their innate bitterness and exhibit the color, taste, and aroma of chocolate. After the fermentation process is complete, the beans are sun-dried for about two weeks to reduce their water content and enhance their flavor. Once dried, the beans are cleaned, inspected, sorted according to their quality, and shipped to chocolate factories for processing. All these processes are done by hand usually within close proximity to the trees themselves.