Process 8: Roasting

Hello my fellow chocolate lovers,

I am Takanori Chiwata, the chocolate engineer of COCONAMA CHOCOLATE.

Today, we will be finally getting into the food processing of the cacao beans.

We are going to start off by roasting the cacao beans.

The purpose of roasting process is to

1.Create chocolate like fragrance

2.Sterilize the cacao beans

With rotating roaster, we will roast the beans for 15 minutes in 285-300°F.

With a normal roaster like oven, we will roast the beans for 20-25 minutes in 320°F.

With the use of rotating roaster, the beans will be roasted equally so the chocolate made with these beans will be characterized by its balanced flavour.

On the other hand, with the use of oven like roaster, the cacao beans will be roasted unequally, some parts strongly and others not so much. So, if i put it in a good way the chocolate made with these beans will have a kicking flavour.

By roasting cacao beans, we are able to create the toasty aroma similar to almond, sweet nut-like aroma similar to macadamia nuts, deep caramel-like aroma, and the bitterness similar to coffee.

Also, like I mentioned on a previous post, the cacao beans are fermented before they come to us. On top of that, they are fermented in a not so sanitary environment. And of course, they will have many germs attached to them, many germs. Those germs are not the type of germs that cause food poisoning, but most of these germs are undesirable.

With the roasting process, we can cut these germs down to about 1%. So, the sterilization by roasting the cacao beans are important in terms of food hygiene as well. Please be especially cautious when you are using unroasted chocolates for raw confectionery.

Let’s call it a day now. Although I am still unable to get into the actual making process of chocolate, I’m glad that I had the chance to talk about the importance of preparation again.

Next time, I would like to post about “winnowing cacao beans”. Don’t miss it!

With hopes that you will be able to encounter the perfect chocolate just for you,

Takanori Chiwata