Chocolate Really Does Grow On Trees

Chocolate, as we know it, is produced from the seeds of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree grown in Brazil, Africa, Malaysia and Hawaii. This evergreen tree is 15-26 feet tall – about the size of our Crabapple trees - with long, broad leaves.

Thousands of pink flowers form in clusters directly on each tree trunk and, once pollinated, about 100 of these clusters develop into mature cocoa pods. The ovoid pods look similar to an extra long, over-ripe acorn squash: about 6-10” long and 3-4” thick.

After harvest, growers remove the thick husk much like you might open an acorn squash and remove the center pulp that contains 16-40, 1¼ “ long, white or purple seeds. These intensely bitter seeds are fermented to develop the characteristic flavor. After fermentation each cocoa bean usually weighs between 1/20th to 1/30th of an ounce.

The beans are then dried, cleaned, and roasted. The shells are removed and the cacao nibs are ground into pure chocolate in a rough form known as cocoa mass. The liquefied cocoa mass, chocolate liquor, is sometimes further processed into two products: cocoa solids and cocoa butter.

Pure chocolate liquor is then blended with cocoa butter in varying quantities to create three basic types of chocolate. The healthiest chocolate, of course, has the highest percentage of chocolate liquor. So, in order of the highest quantity of cocoa liquor first, the general recipes are:

* Dark chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, and (sometimes) vanilla
* Milk chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, milk or milk powder, and vanilla
* White chocolate: sugar, cocoa butter, milk or milk powder, and vanilla

Additional ingredients such as emulsifiers (like soy lecithin), alkaline compounds and preservatives may also be added at this point in the processing.

Now that you have followed the raw beans through to the final product, I hope you find it easier to understand how different processing choices create significant nutritional differences – not just in chocolate but in all the foods we eat. Making the right nutritional choice for yourself and your family can be difficult. Want some help with your nutritional plan? Call me at 503-492-9427.