Characteristics Of Chocolate

Chocolate is one of the most popular foods existing today. Cocoa products and chocolate are consumed throughout the world. It is accepted that chocolate has a hedonic appeal to most people based on sight, color, preparation, memories of past chocolate experiences, texture and taste (Paoletti and others, 2012).

Chocolate quality depends largely on structure, processing and ingredient composition influencing the physical properties and sensory perception of chocolate (Jovanovic and Pajin, 2002). From among the different sensorial attributes, texture is a very important character of food which for some people even more important than taste (IFST, 2013), although Afoakwa in 2009 mentioned that flavor is the most important factor that determines

Many different flavors of chocolate exist, from unpalatable flavors to pleasant ones, which the consumer will associate with the product. A primary feature of the texture is that it must be solid at the room temperature between 20–25C and yet melt rapidly in the mouth at a body temperature of 37C into a smooth liquid. The aim of processing of chocolate is related to obtaining better flavor by choosing well fermented beans and better texture by treating it so that the chocolate will flow properly and be free from large gritty material. The chocolate production process is as follows:

Harvesting

Cocoa beans grow in pods that sprout on the branches of cocoa trees. The pods are about 15-30 cm in size and start out green in color like most fruits and turn orange when they 're ripe. When the pods are ripe, the local harvesters travel through the cocoa orchards with large cleaver blades and hack the pods gently off of the trees.

Fermentation

The fermentation stage is usually very simple. The fresh beans are heaped in a pile or in a wooden box, typically for 5 days. Natural yeasts and bacteria multiply in the pulp, causing the breakdown of the sugars and mucilage. Much of the pulp then drains away as a

Heaps can be used to ferment any quantity from about 25–2500kg of fresh cocoa beans although intermediate amounts are desirable. Some farmers will mix the beans on the second or third day. The fermentation usually lasts about five days and the end point is determined by experience. This traditional low input system produces the best fermented cocoas.

In plantations, fermentation is normally carried out in large wooden well-designed boxes that typically hold 1–2 tons of wet beans. The boxes have small holes at the bottom to drain away liquefied pulp.

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Different types of cocoa require different amounts of fermentation. Beans from some origins are only [17] partially fermented or not intentionally fermented at all. Generally, these beans can be used to manufacture cocoa butter, but if they are used to make other cocoa products, they require blending with fully fermented cocoas.

If the fresh beans are dried without any fermentation, then the nib will be a grey color rather than the brown or purple-brown color of fermented dried cocoa beans. Chocolate made entirely from greyish, unfermented beans tastes very bitter and astringent with little apparent chocolate