From Tree to Treat: An Exploration of Cocoa Creation

Cocoa bean quality significantly influences the taste and color characteristics of cocoa liquor, butter, and powder. ofi's global network boasts a team of expert assessors, who meticulously evaluate and select the best cocoa beans from around the world to create deZaan cocoa ingredients. To ensure consistent quality and quantity at our factories, we often blend cocoa beans from various countries and regions before they enter our plants.

The journey of transforming cocoa beans into premium cocoa ingredients follows a centuries-old process that ensures the finest quality in every product. At deZaan, this transformation is achieved through a series of rigorous steps, each playing a crucial role in developing the rich range of taste and indulgent color associated with our premium cocoa ingredients. 

• Pre-Cleaning: Upon arrival at our processing facilities, cocoa beans undergo a thorough screening to eliminate foreign materials such as twigs, stones, and other debris. 
• Breaking: The cleaned beans are then broken to separate the shells from the cocoa nibs inside. This step is performed in multiple stages to minimize the production of fine particles.
• Winnowing: Following the breaking process, the mixture is sieved into various fractions to optimize separation. In winnowing cabinets, a stream of air removes the lighter, broken shells, isolating the essential cocoa nibs.

Phase 2: From Nib to Liquor

• Sterilizing: Cocoa nibs are sterilized in a batch or continuous process by wetting and heating them using steam. This process is critical to help ensure food safety.
• Alkalizing (Dutching): In this optional step, nibs are treated with an alkali solution, such as potassium or sodium carbonate, to create a darker color and fudgier flavor. 
• Roasting: Roasting creates a Maillard reaction, reduces moisture content, and further develops the desired flavors. Temperatures typically range from 95–145°C (200–295°F), depending on factors like the type of nib and the intended final product.
• Grinding: The roasted nibs are ground in a multi-stage process, transforming them into a fluid mass known as cocoa liquor. This occurs because approximately half of the nib's composition is fat, which melts during grinding, suspending the cocoa particles in cocoa butter.

Phase 3: From Liquor to Butter and Powder

• Cocoa Liquor: Liquid cocoa mass/liquor can either be stored in tanks to await pressing or shipped to chocolate manufacturers for further processing into other products. Pressing the cocoa mass separates it into two parts: cocoa butter and cocoa cake, which is used to make cocoa powder. Cocoa butter makes up about half the weight of cocoa nibs. This fat is removed from the cocoa mass using hydraulic presses. Depending on the pressing time and press settings, the resulting cocoa cake may have a fat content of 10 to 24%. 

• Cocoa Cake: After pressing, the cake is broken into smaller pieces called kibbled cake, which is then stored depending on fat content and level of alkalization. Various types of kibbled cake may be blended before grinding to produce the desired type of cocoa powder. 

• Cocoa Butter: The extracted cocoa butter is filtered and stored. Depending on the desired result, it can be partially or fully deodorized, blended, and then shipped to manufacturers. 

• Cocoa Powder: The grinding process turns cocoa cake into fine powder to improve flavor distribution and mixing for customers’ use in manufacturing. After grinding, the powder is tempered. Due to the heat created in grinding, cooling the cocoa powder allows the fat to crystallize properly, maintaining its premium taste and avoiding clumping and discoloration (fat bloom). 

Discover a range of deZaan cocoa ingredients, including cocoa powders, cocoa butters, cocoa liquors, and organic cocoa ingredients.