How to Make Chocolate from Cacao Beans

Welcome, chocolate aficionados! If you’re a fan of all things chocolatey and decadent, then this article is for you. Today, I’ll be sharing with you a step-by-step guide on how to make your very own cacao bean chocolate or cacao nibs. Whether you’re using cacao beans or nibs, or simply want to experiment with both, I’ve got you covered. And to top it all off, we’ll be using our homemade chocolate to create a rich and indulgent ganache. So, get ready to satisfy your sweet tooth and join me on this delicious journey.

What You need – Ingridients and Tools

For our chocolate recipe, we need the following ingredients. If you have cacao nibs, you can use roasted cacao nibs, and I’m going to use cacao beans. I’m going to use:

• cacao beans or cocoa nibs,
• coconut oil and coconut butter, and
• date paste. The date paste is a sweetener that’s made by blending coconut milk and dates together. It’s super easy to make, and there are plenty of recipes and videos online that can show you how to do it.

Step 1 – Roasting

First, we will roast our cocoa beans. If you have cocoa nibs, you can skip this step and just move on to the next one. If you’re not using cacao beans, we’re going to roast the cacao beans now, if you’re not using cacao nibs. So, we have a wide, big skillet, no oil, over medium heat, and we add all the cacao beans. And the most important thing is to start stirring and never stop. You always have to keep an eye on the pan. During the roasting process, a little smoke may appear and maybe even some sound from the cocoa beans. Don’t be alarmed, this is normal for raw cocoa beans, they crackle just like coffee beans do when roasting.

We have to make sure that the beans change color and become very dark and toasty. I roast them for about 20 minutes, you may need 15 to 20 minutes. You can do a test, open and taste. I think when they’re raw, they’re more like overdue, they’re a little chewy, they’re not as condensed. And you’ll see the difference when they get really tasty, but not burnt, and they get super nutty. The flavor is amazing, they look nice and toasty.

Step 2 – Peeling

So we want to let them cool down a little bit because they are very hot before we start peeling off the film. And maybe this will give you time to find a helper because peeling can take some time and it’s probably the most time-consuming part of the whole chocolate making process. So if you have a friend or family member who is willing to help, find them quickly and then you can have an attractive party together. Get yourself two extra balls. If you are working with poopies, of course you can skip this step, as you should. If not, hopefully you have someone to help you. If not, then enjoy the process. And it’s worth it because the result will be worth what you get, all the pain is worth it, all the work, I promise. When they cool down a little bit, we just start peeling. I always peel them out of one ball and then just the cacao beans in the next one.

So, the cocoa husks are still here. Don’t throw it away, because it makes a great tea. If you haven’t tried it yet, you should definitely try it. You boil some water and basically make tea out of it. It is very tasty and tastes like chocolate, you get a kind of chocolate tea.

Step 3 – Grinding

We’ve just cleaned the cocoa beans. The next step is to grind them in a grinder to make chocolate. Put the cleaned beans in the grinder bowl. First, they turn into a powdered form. Now, a very important note. Since the mass is very thick, you will want to add a little liquid to thin it out. But never add a water-based liquid, as the oils will turn into a liquid, chocolate-free mass, know that water and oil are not the best friends for chocolate mass. So it kind of clusters the oil separately from the water, and the texture becomes very lumpy. And it’s not going to be as nice and creamy anymore.

Then, add a spoonful of coconut oil. It’s going to become a little bit of creaminess. We have to whip the mass for at least 10 minutes. The longer we whisk, the creamier, smoother and better the flavors come out. So be patient and beat it really well. This is one of the key points to pay attention to, because the mixing process is very, very important. Okay, let’s continue to land. So, it’s basically just cocoa beans with coconut oil. We blended for about 10 minutes and you can see that the texture is super soft, liquid, and creamy. It’s the purest form of chocolate you can get. It has a rather bitter taste. That’s because we didn’t add sugar to our own paste, as you’re used to in ready-made chocolate bars.

Cocoa Ganache

And now I’m going to add one more, a bonus recipe that you can use for other recipes – for filling or for cakes. We’re going to add some sweet flavor to our chocolate. So, we mix dark, pure chocolate with coconat butter and date paste. This will be a ganache – basically a chocolate glaze that can be used as a base for many desserts and just super delicious recipes. We mix everything well, voila, and now our chocolate glaze is ready. This texture is really nice and creamy. And we will use it for various recipes, such as making peanut butter cups.

Mmm, it’s really delicious, it’s amazing! You should definitely try it and use it for all kinds of recipes. Don’t forget to read my other article about the history of cocoa  beans When Were Cocoa Beans Discovered : Origin of Chocolate.

Video: Cocoa POD to CHOCOLATE Bar — How to Make A DIY Bean-to-Chocolate Bar at Home