Mindo - Chocolate factory

So the number one item on my list for Mindo was the chocolate factory. I read their website and was really excited to learn all about their excellent product. Besides I love chocolate, and Audrey is following in my footsteps! We were given a sample of a brownie and chocolate icecream made with the chocolate they produce. All I can say is YUM!

This is the pod that comes from the cacoa plant. It is full of coco beans that are covered with white fleshy stuff. 

The seeds are piled into the top box here where they sit for 2 days before they are passed into the next box down and then 2 days later into the lowest box. The seeds with the white stuff around them ferment here to gain flavor. The liquid that is a byproduct of this process is chocolate liquir and used to make BBQ sauce (interesting).

The fermented seeds are spread out on these wire sheets to dry, this could take 2-4 weeks depending on the weather. As the seeds dry they shed some of their dry skin which is piled on the ground under the drying sheets.

This contraption is used to toast the beans which also improves the flavor. It rotates around while heat is applied below.

The toasted beans are put in this cylinder and the dried skins are blown off of the beans. This skin is similar to the thin skin you find on peanuts. These skins are collected and used with barley to produce chocolate beer (interesting).

The next step is to grind the toasted beans here. When they are ground the oil is released from the dried and toasted bean and it becomes a liquid. One pictue is missing of the pressing process that seperates the chocolate leaving a dry product used to make cocoa powder and a oil based product called cocoa butter.

This mixure runs for several hours, I think 12 to combine the ground chocolate that is not becoming cocoa powder mixed with some sugar and more cocoa butter to make chocolate bars.

We all enjoyed the tour, and the samples especially.

I hope you enjoyed learning about chocolate as much as I did!