How to Make Chocolate from Cocoa Beans

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I am a chocolate addict and have so many chocolate recipes here on my website. It was only fitting that I show you the granddaddy of all chocolate recipes, how to make chocolate from cocoa beans. In this cacao pod to chocolate bar tutorial, you will learn the fascinating process of how chocolate is made, completely from scratch.

Ingredients

To make chocolate from cocoa beans, you need the following ingredients:

• Cacao pods or cocoa pods – This is the chocolate fruit; we need the beans from the pods. Where the cocoa pod is grown or comes from will make a difference in the flavor.
• Cocoa butter – Needed for milk chocolate, not necessarily needed for dark chocolate.
• Sugar – Normal white sugar is generally used, but you can get away with using confectioner’s sugar.
• Milk powder – This is only needed for milk chocolate; it is not needed for dark chocolate.

Tools/Equipment

• Blender, food processor, or coffee grinder, unless you have a wetstone grinder mentioned below.
• Spatula
• Chocolate bar molds
• Chocolate Melanger – Optional, but really the only way to get the chocolate super smooth like you get at the store.
• Bowls
• Sheet pan
• Parchment paper
• Scale

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How to make chocolate from cocoa beans: Fermentation

First, we need to open the cocoa pods and get the beans out. There are a few ways to open the cacao pods; the easiest way I find is to take a mallet or meat tenderizer and give it a good whack. The pod will crack, then you can open it up, revealing the fleshy beans/seeds. You can also use a knife and cut around the middle.

The flesh is really, really tasty. Learn more about the cacao fruit and what the white fleshy pulp tastes like in this cacao fruit article.

Now we need to ferment the cocoa beans. Remove all the beans and place them in a bowl. Then cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the beans rest for 7 days. You can also place them in a mason jar with a lid. When fermented, there will be a strong fruity alcohol smell, and the cocoa beans will have changed colors.

Why do we need to ferment the cocoa beans?

Cocoa beans need to be fermented to develop flavor. The fermentation process transforms the bitter astringent-tasting raw bean into something with a more desirable flavor. So, in basic terms, it is for flavor development.

Drying and roasting the cacao beans

After fermentation, we need to dry and roast the beans.

You have a few options here:

Option 1: Add the beans to a pan in a single layer and place them in direct sunlight to dry. This can take several hours or even a few days. Make sure to keep them off the ground and move them around periodically. Sun-drying is probably the most common way to dry mass quantities of cocoa beans.

Option 2: You can dry them in a dehydrator. Place the beans in a single layer on a rack in the dehydrator and let them dry at 105°F (40 C) for 12 to 24 hrs or even up to 2 days.

Option 3: Dry and roast them at the same time in the oven. This is the method I am showing here because it is the fastest. Not necessarily the best. Just add the fermented cocoa beans to a sheet pan with parchment paper and place them in an oven set to 300°F (150 °C). Roast them for 1 hour or so until the flesh turns dark and the beans are dry. They should crack easily. The roast kills bacteria, develops flavor, reduces moisture in the bean, and loosens the shell from the bean.

Roasting the cocoa beans

The amount of time and the temperature for roasting develop different flavors. Every chocolate maker has their own formula as far as temps and times go for roasting to get a desired flavor from the bean.

The length of the roast is shorter if you dry the beans first in the sun or in the dehydrator, so if you follow option 1 or option 2. If you do that, set the oven to 300°F (150 °C) and only roast the beans for 5 to 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 250°F (120 °C) and roast for 20 to 30 minutes.

Regardless of the roasting method you choose, you should hear cracking as the beans roast and release steam.

To keep it simple, and for the first time, just follow the quick method that I did, which is option 3.

Winnowing: Removing the shells from the cocoa beans

Once you have the roasted beans, allow them to cool for about 30 minutes. Then you can crack the shells and remove the beans. I usually just sit in front of the TV and do this; it can take several minutes or a couple of hours, depending on how many you are doing. Properly roasted cocoa beans will easily crack in your hands and be dry. When you smash the bean, it should crack easily into nibs and not be soft. If they are soft, you need to roast a little longer, they have too much moisture in them.

Once you have the beans, break up the de-shelled beans into the chocolate nibs. The process of separating the shells from the beans is called winnowing.

Another thing you can try is to add all the beans to a ziplock bag and then run a rolling pin over them. Then separate the shells from the beans. Place all the nibs in a separate bowl and throw out the shells, or put them in your compost.

3 standard-sized pods gave me about 170g of cocoa nibs.

NOTE: If you don’t want to do the cocoa pod way, you can buy cocoa beans (As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn on qualifying purchases), already ready to go; they just need to be roasted, and you can also buy cocoa nibs ready to go. A lot of times, this is cheaper than buying the cacao pods!

Making dark chocolate

Now that we have our cocoa nibs ready to go, we can make our chocolate. I will show you how to make both dark chocolate and milk chocolate using those fresh cocoa nibs.

First up is the dark chocolate, and I will be making a 70% dark chocolate that will use 70g of cocoa nibs, 25g of sugar, and 5g of cocoa butter. Technically, the cocoa butter is not needed here, because the nibs already have cocoa butter, but if you are not using a melanger, it is recommend to add extra cocoa butter. I am also showing how to do it with powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar. I find that the little bit of cornstarch doesn’t affect the chocolate.

Add the nibs to a blender, food processor, or coffee grinder and blend for a few minutes until they break down. Then add the sugar and blend some more.

If you are doing a small amount like this, start in your blender, then move to a food processor. Or if you have a coffee grinder, you should be able to do it all in there.

Now, melt the cocoa butter and add that. Keep blending for several minutes, stopping periodically to push down the sides, so it mixes evenly. It should be a liquid paste or even more liquid when done.

NOTE: If you do have a chocolate melanger, follow these steps, add the nibs first, and run the melanger for 1 hr or so. Then add the sugar and run it for at least 24 hrs. You probably won’t need to add extra cocoa butter at all if using the melanger. This will give you the smoothest chocolate possible and is how professionals do it.

How do I temper the dark chocolate?

If you want to temper the chocolate. Heat it to 115°F (46 °C) in a bowl resting on a pot with water. Don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl. Set the burner to medium heat. As the water heats up, the steam will warm the bowl and the chocolate. Once the chocolate reaches 115°F, remove it from the heat and stir it until it cools to 86°F (30°C). Then heat it back up to 90°F (32°C). Then it will be tempered and ready to pour into the molds.

Pour the chocolate paste or chocolate liquor into your chocolate bar molds. Place in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Eat that homemade dark chocolate

Remove the chocolate bar from the fridge and take it out of the mold, and give it a snap. Super satisfying to hear that snap. Time to give it a taste. The chocolate flavor should be rich and pronounced, and there will be a gritty taste unless you use the melanger, so don’t be alarmed. If you are expecting to be smooth like store-bought, you will be disappointed again, unless you use a melanger. There you go, homemade dark chocolate made from cocoa beans.

If you are going to make homemade chocolate like this all the time, then definitely pick up a Chocolate Melanger. To make dark chocolate with cocoa powder instead, follow this homemade chocolate recipe.

Now let’s make some milk chocolate.

Making milk chocolate

For the milk chocolate ingredient ratios, I am using 70g of cocoa nibs, 70g of sugar, 45g of milk powder, and 45g of cocoa butter.

Add the sugar and the milk powder to a high-speed blender, food processor, or coffee grinder and blend for a minute or two until fine. The finer you get it, the less of a gritty taste you will have.

Remove the mixture and then blend the cocoa nibs by themself for a minute or two. Combine the ground cacao nibs and the milk powder, and the sugar in the blender or food processor and blend for a few more minutes on high.

Next, melt the cocoa butter and add that. Continue mixing for several minutes until you have a nice liquid chocolate.

NOTE: If using a melanger, add the cocoa nibs first, and grind for about an hr. Then add the sugar, milk powder, and cocoa butter, and continue grinding for at least 24 hrs or longer, until you get your desired smoothness.

How to temper milk chocolate

If you want to temper the milk chocolate, follow the same steps as the dark chocolate, but the temperatures are slightly lower. Heat the chocolate to 105°F (41 °C) in a bowl resting on a pot with water using medium heat. Don’t let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.

Once the chocolate reaches 105°F, remove it from the heat and stir it until it cools to 80°F (27°C). To quicken the cooling process place the bowl of chocolate in a large bowl that has ice in it.

After it cools to the correct temperature, heat it back up to 86°F (30°C). Then it will be tempered and ready to pour into the molds.

Finish making the milk chocolate by pouring it into the molds

Pour the chocolate into the chocolate bar molds and give them a tap to remove any air bubbles. It will set at room temperature since it was tempered, but to speed the process, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes. You can also put it in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Remove the bars from the mold and enjoy.

If you want to make milk chocolate from cocoa powder instead, follow this milk chocolate recipe.

Again, it will have a gritty texture unless you use a melanger, but the flavor should be pretty darn good.

It is a long process making chocolate from cocoa beans, but it is sure fun and very satisfying. Hopefully, you learned something new and enjoyed this process!

How long does homemade chocolate made from cocoa beans last?

The chocolate will last as long as normal chocolate. Store it at room temperature or in the fridge. You can even freeze it if you want.