A UNIQUE AND DEDICATED PROTOCOL: FROM BEAN TO CHOCOLATE

Cacao is a treasure trove of flavours. To release them, the beans must be processed in a complex process where details can make a big difference in the development of the aromatic notes. The key steps are fermentation and roasting. Each variety will have its own treasure. There are countless flavours to discover and variations of fruitiness to enjoy. Notes of nuts, spices, herbs and more are all present in the cacao fruit. Unfortunately, because cacao was not historically planted for its variety, these flavours have been lost in the industrialized approach to cacao and chocolate.

FERMENTATION AND ROASTING: TWO KEY STEPS

After planting our cacao trees, it took five years of growth before we could harvest. Once we had a sufficient harvest, we started to perfect the production process.

Fermentation is the first major step to develop the flavors that are intrinsic to the cacao beans.

FERMENTATION AND ROASTING

Developing the fermentation protocols took us a year of experimentation. We monitor temperature developments and the changes in pH value, both inside the beans and the white mass from the cacao pod. Along the process we make cut tests to assess the beans visually. On average, we ferment the beans for 5.2 days and the beans are turned 2 times in our boxes. Once the beans reach their best expression of flavors, the fermentation ends and we begin the drying process before roasting.

We had to invent our own approach to respect completely the pure flavours of cacao fruit. Roasting single variety beans enables a much lower and shorter roast than what can be done with mixed beans from seed-planted trees. We roast at temperatures about 20-30% lower than the industry and at half the time, carefully checking when the beans reach their optimal expression of flavours from the cacao fruit.

from the bean to the chocolate xoco gourmet cacao professional