Bean to Bar: The Food of the Gods

The scientific name for the cacao plant, the one that produces the wonder called chocolate, is Theobroma cacao. In Greek, ‘theobroma’ means the ‘food of the Gods’. 

Yesterday, I got to learn more about this heavenly food. Mr L Nitin Chordia, India’s first certified chocolate taster, visited our college, to teach us all the things we didn’t yet know about chocolate. And apparently, there’s a LOT we didn’t know.

To begin with, I realised that for my entire chocolate-eating existence, I have been eating a lie! Those chocolate bars, available at the corner store and the supermarket in India, aren’t even real chocolate!

I knew there were a few cheats and tricks they (won’t use any names) used, to make all those expensive chocolate bars we love. But today I learned the whole ugly truth. Forget the Willy Wonka-esque chocolate rivers and candy mushrooms; what we end up eating is actually "compound" or "composite" chocolate. It is chemically alkalised cocoa cakes (a by-product of the real fine quality chocolate making process), some chemically synthesised vanillin flavouring (not even real vanilla), and some chocolate flavouring to cover up all that fakeness! Add to that mix some palm oil or hydrogenated vegetable oil, et voila, you get a bar of LIES pretending to be chocolate!! 

This revelation was much like the discovery I made a few years back about my favourite dessert, Ice cream! 

However, the future for Indian chocoholics is not that bleak. There are, of course, the imported brands of real chocolate, made the way it is supposed to be. But more importantly, there are a growing number of Indian chocolatiers who are joining this “Bean to Bar” revolution, so to speak.

So what is this Bean to Bar business all about? It is the process of transforming this:

Cacao Pods, the fruit Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa beans come (Source: Wikipedia)

To this:

Roasted and shelled Cocoa beans, called cocoa nibs (Source: Wikipedia)

And finally to this:

A bar of micro-batch artisanal chocolate

And it is quite a transformation indeed!

The use of cacao pods, which originated in South America, can be traced back to the Mayan civilisation. It is believed that back then, the intensely sweet and fruity pulp was used to make a drink, and the seeds (the source of all true chocolate) were simply discarded! I know – the horror of it!!

But now, these cacao beans are put through a series of processes to make the world’s favourite sweet treat.

First, ripe cacao pods are harvested and cracked open. The seeds, exactly 40 in each pod, are fermented along with their sweet, fleshy pulp, to begin developing the chocolaty flavour. Without fermentation, they simply taste like “water-soaked peanuts”, as Mr Chordia described them.

Then the seeds are dried until they have less than 7% moisture. This is crucial so that they don’t spoil as they are shipped from the major cacao growing regions of the world (20 degrees north and south of the equator only), to the major chocolate producing centres in Europe, North America, Asia, and other parts.

Once they reach the producers, the dried beans are roasted. In the micro-batch Bean to Bar process, roasting is done much the same way as coffee roasting, with close attention paid to the nature of the bean, and it’s specific roasting needs. This process unlocks the full chocolaty potential of the bean.

After being roasted and shelled, the beans are called cocoa nibs. These smell intensely chocolaty and divine – but taste quite the opposite: nutty, bitter, and acidic. To transform this flavour into the one we are all familiar with, the cocoa nibs are ground with sugar, sometimes vanilla, and milk solids.

Grinding the cocoa nibs into what is called cocoa liquor or cocoa mass (Source: Wikipedia)

Then the luscious liquid is churned for several hours, to make its flavour well rounded and balanced, in a process called conching. This again reminded me of Willy Wonka’s chocolate waterfall – I guess it wasn't purely whimsical!

Willy Wonka's chocolate waterfall

Then all that’s left to do, is to set it in bars that we can EAT! 

In the past few years, this Bean to Bar revolution has slowly but surely started trickling into India, and the number of small-batch chocolate producers is growing quickly. You can find a lot of them featured on the website for Mr Chordia’s chocolate appreciation club cocoatrait.com. 

One brand that I’ve tried is Earth Loaf raw chocolates (Asia’s only, and the world’s second raw chocolate producer), and another I’ve been keen to get my hands on, All Things Chocolate. And there are so many more!

To say that I learned a lot about chocolate is an understatement, we barely scratched the surface. Mr Chordia spent almost three hours sharing his stories with us, then answered our numerous questions, and I'm sure he has lots more tucked away in his memory banks. His knowledge of and passion for chocolate was inspiring!

Though the child in me would still like to believe chocolate is made with giant chocolate waterfalls by tiny orange men who frequently burst into song, I can safely say I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the real way chocolate is made.