Post #4325160

2026-08-01 20:50 UTC

In the broadest of generalities, forastero beans have more of the bass-heavy, "chocolatey" notes and take a longer, hotter roast, but they tend to be somewhat "flat" or uncomplicated, with very little finish or development of the flavor on the palate. The vast plantations of west Africa that produce most of the world's cocoa beans (even though the species are native to central America) are planted in forastero monoculture and that's what most of the mass-market commercial chocolate you've ever had uses. Criollo are lighter, fruity beans with all kinds of top notes and complexity, but typically too tangy for my tastes on their own, and lack the deep richness that we associate with chocolate. These are the beans that will burn to gross if you look at them funny. Some trinitarios manage to achieve a desirable balance of these characteristics, but much of the art of chocolate-making is in blending different beans to balance each other's weaknesses. (4/9)

Replies (1)

@stevegis_ssg@mas.to 2026-08-01 20:55

When I get a new variety, I will do test-roasts, taking samples at defined timepoints, to see if they have a sweet spot, when it is, and what it's like. I grind them with sugar to a coarse powder and then I can do blending experiments to decide on a recipe. Once you have your beans roasted, it's time to separate them from their shells. The shell is fibrous and has relatively little chocolate flavor, so it will weaken the finished product unless removed. The large-scale way to do that is to crack the beans into a mixture of bean pieces (if you buy "cacao nibs" that's what these are) and shell pieces. Then they are separated by density using moving air, an ancient agricultural practice called "winnowing," although now performed with complicated fan-driven machinery. The shell pieces can be composted or used for mulch. They also, since they have a faint chocolate flavor/scent and no fat content, get used to flavor things like chocolate beer or chocolate tea. (5/9)

Open ##4325159