Post #4325164

2026-08-01 20:35 UTC

How chocolate is made, in case you're curious (a thread): Cacao grows within about 10° of the equator. The trees are WEIRD-looking small trees and the fruit kind of grows straight out of the trunk and large branches. Fruit growing out of a trunk looks very wrong to me but I have no complaints about the result. The fruit is a pod, shaped like and slightly smaller than an American football or rugby ball. Like so many other fruits, it contains a number of seeds, each with a thin shell of its own, embedded in pulp. (Does this make it technically a berry? I find I'm curious without actually caring.) The pulp is edible and can be pressed for juice, but spoils very quickly, so it's not typically eaten outside chocolate-growing areas. I've had the juice once (from a carton, far from the equator) and it was … okay. Kind of fruity/musky, a little sweet and a little tangy and with a pronounced "damp basement" note. I'll pass. (1/9)

Replies (2)

@stevegis_ssg@mas.to 2026-08-01 20:40

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)

Open ##4325163
@susiemagoo@mstdn.social 2026-08-02 06:35

@stevegis_ssg@mas.to thank you!

Open ##4330057