Post #4325163

2026-08-01 20:40 UTC

Which is just as well because the typical processing involves splitting the pods open and spreading the mixture of pulp and seeds out in the sun. Within the aforementioned 10° of the equator, the pulp rots almost instantly, which is actually a crucial part of the process. Chocolate is a fermented food, and this step develops chemicals that contribute to the taste of the final product. After fermentation, the seeds (which of course are cocoa beans), in their shells, are washed and dried and bagged up for shipping. This is the state in which they are distributed to chocolate-makers around the world. The international unit of cocoa bean sales is apparently the 50-kilo sack. That is how companies that make chocolate buy them. For home chocolate-makers (yes, it's a thing), there is at least one company that buys them and breaks them up and sells them on by the pound. They are chocolatealchemy.com and if you get to the end and think "I wanna do that!" they are your source. (2/9)

Replies (2)

@stevegis_ssg@mas.to 2026-08-01 20:45

The next step is to roast the beans. On a large scale, this is typically done in a drum roaster, heating and agitating, similar to those used for coffee, although the temperature profile is quite different. I myself roast them in the oven, on an insulated pan, stirring every five minutes. Also like coffee, there are many different varieties of cocoa bean. There are two major species, which produce beans called "criollo" and "forastero," but they hybridize freely, so there is a vast range of "trinitario" beans with more or less character from one parent or the other. Then of course there's terroire, and the same strain will produce different beans in different soils or different years. The roast has to be sensitive to these differences; the same conditions that will leave one bean variety underroasted and tasting, well, *bean-y* will leave a different variety badly burnt, acrid and nasty. (3/9)

Open ##4325162
@daniele_Hesse@mstdn.party 2026-08-01 23:23

@stevegis_ssg@mas.to I have been drinking Cacao, a minimally processed chocolate daily for several months. My blood pressure went from 138/78 to 118/70.

Open ##4330052