From Cacao Tree to Chocolate Bar: My Sous Chocolatiers Go Back to the Source 🌱🍫

My sous chocolatiers recently announced they were going on holiday to St Lucia.

Naturally, I saw this as an excellent opportunity for some important business research!

While my Mum and Dad may have been imagining beaches, sunshine and a little time away, I had another assignment in mind: go and find out exactly where my chocolate begins.

So, somewhere between the beach and the pool, my sous chocolatiers found themselves walking through a cacao plantation in the St Lucian sunshine.

Chocolate starts with a tree

As a chocolatier, I spend a lot of time thinking about tempering temperatures, moulds, flavours and what I'm going to create next.

But long before chocolate reaches my kitchen, it starts with something completely different: a cacao tree.

One of the most fascinating things my sous chocolatiers learnt was that cacao isn't simply cacao. There are traditionally three main groups of cacao - Criollo, Forastero and Trinitario - and they have different characteristics.

Some are great for their flavour but can be more vulnerable to disease. Others are may have stronger or more bitter flavour characteristics.

This is where things get really clever.

Growers can combine desirable characteristics from different cacao varieties to produce hybrid cacao plants, looking for a balance between flavour, productivity and resistance to disease.

Chocolate-making, it turns out, involves quite a lot of science before a chocolatier even gets near it.

Growing chocolate requires patience

They also learnt just how much patience is involved in growing cacoa.

A newly planted cacao tree doesn't suddenly start producing chocolate the following summer. It generally takes several years before a cacao tree begins producing pods, and the trees need the right combination of warmth, rainfall, shade and care.

Walking amongst the cacao trees made something very clear: every chocolate bar has had quite a journey before we've even opened our first bag of couverture.

How do you know when a cacao pod is ready?

This was another part I found fascinating.

Cacao pods grow directly from the trunk and branches of the tree, and knowing when they're ready to harvest is a skill in itself.

Growers look for changes in the colour of the pod, although the exact colour depends on the cacao variety. The people growing and harvesting cacao learn to recognise the signs that tell them when a pod has reached maturity.

The ripe pods are then carefully twisted from the tree.

And that's when you finally discover what's hiding inside.

They tasted cacao straight from the pod!

My sous chocolatiers actually got to open a cacao pod and taste the fresh pulp surrounding the cacao beans.

And apparently it tastes nothing like chocolate. My mum said it tasted more like a lychee!

The beans are surrounded by a soft white pulp with a sweet, fruity flavour. At this point, it's difficult to imagine that these pale, fruit-covered beans will eventually become the chocolate we all recognise.

That transformation begins with one of the most important stages of the whole process.

Fermentation changes everything

Once the beans and pulp have been removed from the pods, the cacao beans are fermented.

This isn't simply a waiting stage. Fermentation is really important to developing the flavours that will eventually become chocolate.

The beans are then left to ferment for a few days. This is really important because it helps develop the chocolate flavour. They also get really warm while they’re fermenting, which I thought was pretty cool!

After fermentation, the beans need to be dried before they can move on to the next stages of their journey.

Suddenly, opening a bag of chocolate in our kitchen doesn't seem quite so simple.

There have already been months and years of growing, harvesting and careful processing behind it.

Then came the best bit…

After learning how cacao is grown, harvested and fermented, my sous chocolatiers had to prove they'd been paying attention.

They were going to make their own chocolate bar.

And there wasn't a chocolate tempering heater in sight.

They went right back to basics.

Using traditional manual methods, including a pestle and mortar, they worked the cacao by hand and experienced just how much effort goes into transforming cacao into something resembling the smooth chocolate we're used to eating.

Grinding.

And grinding.

And some more grinding.

Apparently, they have a newfound appreciation for the equipment back in The Tiny Chocolatier kitchen!

Eventually, they had made their very own chocolate bar from cacao.

From standing amongst the trees where cacao grows to holding a finished bar of chocolate was pretty incredible.

Going back to where chocolate begins

I spend a lot of time learning about chocolate and how to make it properly, I temper it carefully, pour and decorate every bar by hand and spend far too much time thinking about what flavour I should create next.

But hearing about my parents visit to the plantation reminded us that the craft begins long before the chocolate reaches us.

It begins with the people who grow cacao.

With choosing and nurturing the trees.

With knowing exactly when a pod is ready.

With harvesting.

Fermenting.

Drying.

And processing cacao until eventually it becomes the chocolate that chocolatiers like me are lucky enough to work with.

Understanding that journey has made me appreciate our ingredients even more.

And, most importantly, my sous chocolatiers have now returned from St Lucia with considerably more chocolate knowledge than when they left.

So I think we can officially call the trip a market research success! 

Arjun, The Tiny Chocolatier 🍫