CACAO
PROCESSING
CACAO
PROCESSING
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
The cacao tree is notoriously finicky, requiring gentle care and specific conditions to thrive and produce fruit. Due to its unique growing and pollination requirements (see Botany for details), it is not suited to large-scale farming. Instead, cacao cultivation is best adapted to smallholder farms.
While extensive genetic selection and hybridization have aimed to make cacao trees more resilient, these efforts have often resulted in high-yield trees that produce lower-quality beans. Despite these adaptations, cacao plantations must remain small enough to receive proper care.
Unfortunately, 95% of the world’s cacao is grown on open-sun plantations that focus on hardy tree varieties, yielding beans with poor, standardized flavors and minimal nutritional value. The industrial processing of these beans mirrors their substandard cultivation.
This article focuses on the remaining 5% of cacao—commonly referred to as fine or specialty cacao—used in crafting Origin Cacao or bean-to-bar chocolate. By highlighting these better practices, we hope to promote awareness and support a shift toward higher-quality cacao production and consumption.
Good Farming Practices: From Seed to Harvest
Cacao farming is primarily the domain of smallholder farmers, as wild cacao now exists in only a few remote regions. These small-scale operations play a critical role in preserving local and ancient cacao varieties, which are valued for their unique flavors and genetic diversity.
Seed Selection and Agroforestry
Good farming begins with the careful selection of cacao seeds. Farmers and cooperatives prioritize local or heirloom varieties to maintain biodiversity and ensure the preservation of region-specific flavors. A needed attention as cacao loves hybridization, so much so that different genetic material can be found between two pods growing on the same tree.
Cacao trees thrive in agroforestry systems, where they are intercropped with other plants such as fruit trees, hardwood trees, shrubs and vegetables. This approach mimics their natural ecosystem, enhancing soil fertility, supporting biodiversity, and providing shade essential for the cacao trees’ growth. It can also increase farmers’ income through crop diversification.
They take about 5 years to mature and produce their first harvest. Farmers must provide consistent care during this period, including regular pruning, pest control, and soil enrichment to support healthy growth.
Harvesting Practices
Cacao trees typically produce two harvests each year: a main harvest and a smaller secondary harvest. Farmers handpick ripe cacao pods, which are brightly colored and emit a hollow sound when tapped, using clean and sharp tools to avoid damaging trees.
Good practice involve selecting only fully mature pods to ensure optimal flavor development in the beans.
Post-harvest practices: From Pod to Dry Bean
The journey from pod to paste begins with proper post-harvest processes. These steps have a significant influence on beans’ final quality and, consequently, the end-product.
FERMENTATION
Harvested pods must be cracked open on the same day to prevent germination and fermentation from starting prematurely. Inside each pod lie 30 to 50 beans surrounded by a sweet, sticky pulp.
Washed away in industrial practices, it is conserved in traditional methods so the yeasts and bacteria break down cacao’s own sugars, generating heat and producing various essential compounds contributing to cacao’s final flavor. By breaking down some other harmful compounds, this step turns the hardly edible beans into digestible material.
Good fermentation practices include:
- Ensuring sufficient batch size (typically 50kg minimum) so there’s enough material for the mass to naturally reach a required fermenting temperature.
- Using cascading wooden boxes or heaps covered with banana leaves to ensure aeration and correct drainage.
- Turning the beans regularly (every 24-48 hours).
- Maintaining the process for 5-7 days, depending on the cacao variety and desired flavor profile.
DRYING
After fermentation, beans must be dried to reduce moisture content and halt fermentation.
Good drying practices include:
- Slow, even drying (typically 5-10 days).
- Protecting beans from rain and potential intrants. Generally beans are spread on tables under transparent roofs.
- Regularly turning beans to ensure uniform drying.
The goal is to reduce the beans’ relative humidity to around 7%, which prevents mold growth and ensures proper storage.
STORAGE
Dried cacao beans must be stored in cool, dry conditions to maintain their quality. They are typically kept in jute sacks, which allow for airflow and prevent moisture buildup. Proper storage ensures the beans are free from contamination and ready for transport to manufacturers.
From this point on, cacao beans follow different processing route according to the expected end-product. We’ll focus on two of those: Origin Cacao and fine chocolate.
Origin Cacao: From Bean to Paste
The specificity of this process lies in its minimalist approach. The purpose behind the craft of Origin Cacao is to retain a maximum of its valuable compounds and nutritional value, while expressing the beauty of its aromas.
Beans may be transformed on-site near the cacao trees, or exported to artisans in other countries. While methods employed in the process vary, they all circle around the premise that less is more.
Sorting the Beans
Once the jute bags are opened, the first step is to sort the beans to remove defects or unwanted materials. Sorting is done by hand, quite time-consuming, yet crucial for achieving the highest quality.
ROASTING
Although beans are sometimes left unroasted—e.g. for the preparation of certain traditional beverages that requires so like atole de puzunque1—they undergo a light and slow roasting in the vast majority of cases.
Traditionally performed over an open-fire, roasting requires precision and care in order to enhance cacao’s flavors without crossing the line and burning the beans.
As this technique demands proper know-how, roasting can also be performed in an oven, which allows for consistent results and the creation of custom roasting profiles.
These profiles adjust temperature and time based on factors like bean type or humidity, ensuring optimal flavor development while preserving beneficial compounds. Many tests are conducted before settling on a profile, fine-tuning parameters to sublime cacao’s aromas while retaining its compounds.
Peeling or Winnowing
GRINDING
The final step of crafting Origin Cacao is grinding the nibs in order to release their fat content (cacao butter) and turn them into a paste.
Traditionally, this is done by women on a metate, a curved stone tool, through a labor-intensive back-and-forth motion.
For larger-scale production, stone grinders replicate this motion, using friction and heat to transform solid beans into a smooth paste. In this context, the duration of grinding—typically 12 to 48 hours—determines the paste’s texture. Crafters balance smoothness with preserving compounds; a grittier texture involves less processing and retains more nutrients, but implies more sediment in the cup.
Once the paste reaches the desired consistency, it is molded into blocks or tablets, cooled, and solidified. These are then ready to be chopped and prepared as a drink.
Crafting Origin Cacao comes in contrast here with fine chocolate, which is focused on exploiting cacao’s aromatic compounds.
Fine Chocolate: From Bean to bar
Fine chocolate focuses on the tasting experience and its making process emphasizes the enhancement of cacao’s organoleptic qualities.
It is achieved through more processing steps than the making of Origin Cacao and uses more machinery, while maintaining a minimalist approach compared to industrial chocolate production methods.
The main differences between fine chocolate and Origin Cacao transformations lie in:
- Roasting profile
- Grinding durations
- The addition of sugar
- The tempering process
Another factor, though not directly part of the production, is the level of connection between the craft chocolate maker and the cacao source. This relationship is often more distant than that of an Origin Cacao producer, though exceptions exist.
For an in-depth look at the Bean-to-Bar process, head to our dedicated article where we tell the story of Mathieu Robin, whom we followed for a complete run of production.
SOURCES
REFERENCES
- Cameron L. McNeil, ed., Chocolate in Mesoamerica: A Cultural History of Cacao, Maya Studies. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2006. ISBN 9780813033822.
– Chapter 17, written by Cameron L. McNeil: Traditional Cacao Use in Modern Mesoamerica.
BACKGROUND MATERIAL
• Patchett, Marcos. The Secret Life of Chocolate. London: Aeon Books, 2020. ISBN 978‑1‑911597‑06‑3.
• Presilla, Maricel E. (2009). The New Taste of Chocolate, Revised: A Cultural and Natural History of Cacao with Recipes. Ten Speed Press.
