Chocolate
Harvesting
Cocoa trees produce buds on a continuous basis. Surprisingly the pods are picked by hand. This is because the mature pods have to be picked carefully, as not to damage the buds, immature pods or the stem area. Once the pods have been picked they are delicately opened to release the cocoa beans which are embedded into a white pulp. The pulp and beans are quickly scooped out of their shells and either put into a box with lids or, especially on smaller plantations, put into a pile and covered with banana leaves.
Fermentation
The pulp surrounding the beans is converted to alcohol by yeasts in the ever present air and the heat generated inside the pile or box. The beans in the box or pile are carefully mixed to make sure oxygen which turns the alcohol into lactic and acetic acid, penetrates into each corner. Holes in the box allow the acids to leak out. Fermentation can take up to eight days depending on the species of the beans.
Joshua Visser (14)