How to Make Chocolate at Home from Cacao Beans or Bicolor Beans

By Guest Author Wesley Kelder

People often think of chocolate as unhealthy. However, in its purest form, chocolate (cocoa) contains beneficial nutrients like calcium, phosphorous, magnesium, iron, zinc, and amino acids. Best of all, when making your own chocolate from cacao beans (technically cacao seeds), it is super easy to tweak to your liking. For instance, you can decide if you want dark chocolate, milk chocolate, spicy chocolate, or any extra flavors you like (citrus flavors are very popular). You can also decide how sweet you want it to be.

Making chocolate from scratch is actually quite a long process. It starts with cacao beans, but chocolate can also be made from the bicolor bean. The bicolor is a close relative of the cacao tree. Although they are related, there are a few minor differences which are described below. However, the process of making chocolate with bicolor or cacao are very similar.

What’s the difference between cacao and cocoa?

Cacao refers to the raw beans or semi-processed beans that are eventually made into cocoa. Cocoa refers to the finished or near-finished basic ingredient of chocolate (cocoa powder, cocoa butter, etc.). Cacao fruit and their beans (seeds actually) grow on the Theobroma cacao tree, native to parts of South America, West Africa, and Asia. Cacao pods are harvested from the trees and are turned into cocoa and chocolate through a multi-step process.

Step-by-step: from cacao bean to chocolate bar

Here are the 7 steps to make your own milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or white chocolate.

Step 1: Choose the right number of cacao fruits

Each cacao fruit contains white pulp with a maximum of 60 seeds. To determine how many fruits you need, first decide on how many grams of chocolate you want to make. As a rule of thumb, when making a chocolate bar of 80 grams (2.8 ounces), you’ll require about 40 seeds. Make sure to pick ripe fruit for this. The color of the seeds depends on the variety, but they normally have an orangish color.

If using Bicolor: A bicolor contains fewer seeds than cacao, generally a maximum of 45. The seed pulp is more yellowish than the cacao.

Step 2: Fermenting the beans

After removing the seeds and pulp in the fruit, the fermenting process begins. The fermentation process (or yeast process) is very important. This is when the sugars in the beans are converted to acids, and enzymes break down the bitter flavor (the unfermented seeds are very bitter if you eat them raw). Fermentation brings out the full flavor of the bean and takes approximately 6 days.

It is traditional to cover the seeds in banana leaves, but using wooden crates specifically made for drying beans is an option too. Crates for drying cacao beans have holes in the bottom to allow liquid to escape.

In order for the seeds to ferment correctly they must heat to 125 degrees F (40-50 degrees Celsius). The beans themselves will produce significant heat during the process but you can help them along by placing them next to a heat source such as a heat pack or a hot water bottle.

Check and stir the beans regularly and remove any that may be rotting, easily identified by moldy spots. During fermentation you’ll also notice the smell of alcohol as the pulp ferments from airborne yeast and heat. It’s important that your crate allows the beans to drain properly because if they sit in the alcohol, they will rot.

After fermentation is complete, dry the cacao or bicolor seeds in the sun for around a week. Color changes are a result of good fermentation, where the color of the fermenting seed changes from a dark purple to a dark brown. When this process is completed, the beans will be a lot lighter in color.

Step 3: Roasting / Drying the cacao beans

Drying or roasting the beans ensures that all of the liquid is removed with a goal of reducing the moisture level below 7%. This will give the beans more flavor (and color!). You will see that the outer shell will separate from the inner bean. 

To roast the beans, load them into a roasting pan and place them in an oven for about 12 minutes at 120 degrees Celsius (250 Fahrenheit). When you start to smell a ‘brownie’ smell (like the favorite dessert), you know the beans are almost done. You want them to ‘pop’ (without burning!), just like heating corn until it becomes popcorn. That same popping sound tells you that your cacao beans are done roasting. Take them out of the oven and let them cool. Your bean is now officially a cacao nib (it’s called a nib after the fermentation and roasting process).

The traditional method is to solar dry the beans on special mats in direct sunlight. Of course, the weather plays a big part here and in rainy areas it can take much more time to dry the beans. Careful attention must be paid so the beans do not become moldy.

If using Bicolor : The bicolor bean contains less fat. That means bicolor beans can be roasted at a higher temperature than the cacao beans, up to 150 degree Celsius (300 Fahrenheit).

Step 4: Bean Separation

Now the cacao bean must be separated from the shell. Sometimes this happens in the roasting process, in which case you can skip this step. If not, press each bean between your fingers to remove the shell. It might take more time, but with this step, you lose very few nibs. You can also now see that the inside (cacao nib) already has the color of the chocolate you’re familiar with. After you have done this, it is time to prepare the roasted, peeled cacao for grinding. 

Fun fact: Your cacao nibs are made up of approximately 50% cacao solids and 50% cacao butter now.

Step 5: Grinding the cacao nib & conching

Use a strong grinder made for cacao beans (or something similar) to grind the cacao nibs. Be aware that the cacao nibs need to run in the grinder for at least 10 hours (yes, a long time). After finishing this process, you will see that the cacao nibs have turned to a paste or liquid as the cocoa butter is released.

During grinding, is when you add extra butter, milk, vanilla, milk powder, sugar, or cacao powder to flavor your chocolate as milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate, whatever suits you. You might also try adding cinnamon, curry powder, or chili powder.

GRINDING TIP: Before grinding, it is best to pre-grind the nibs. This can be best done via a high-speed blender or a coffee / spice grinder.

Conching takes place after grinding. Once the paste or liquid is formed, the grinder continues aerating the cocoa to reduce moisture and develop more flavor. During this time, acids evaporate from the bean, taking bitter flavors away and allowing the added ingredients to thoroughly mix with the cocoa butter. This gives the chocolate a deep flavor. The name “conching” comes from the shape of the vessels that were used to do this long ago – they resembled conch shells.

If using Bicolor: Because of the lower fat content from the bicolor (20%) compared to the cacao (55%), cacao butter must be added! If you don’t add butter to the bicolor beans at this point, it simply won’t flow.

Step 6: Tempering temperatures

To get the gloss for the finished chocolate that you’re familiar with, you have to “temper” the chocolate: melt it, cool it, and reheat it. This is important, because the different chocolate colors have different tempering temperatures.

• Dark chocolate: Melt to 46-50 °C (115-122ºF), cool to 28 °C (82.4ºF), and reheat to 30-32 °C (86-89.6ºF)
• Milk chocolate or white chocolate: Melt to 40-45 °C (104-113ºF), cool to 26/7 °C (79/80.6ºF), and reheat to 28-30 °C (82.4-86ºF).

Step 7: Molding your chocolate

Pour the liquid chocolate into the shape that you want. Then, allow it to cool until it becomes solid. Store your homemade chocolate in a cool, dry place.

Author bio: Wesley Kelder is the owner of the big tropical garden of Seeds Del Mundo, with more than 150 sorts of fruit collected from all over the world. Wesley and his family, who are all working together, have a passion for all kinds of tropical fruits, and want to share as much of mother nature’s beauties all over the world. They are specialized in tropical fruits, like the Theobroma Bicolor, different varieties of Dragon Fruits, Capuacu and many other rare exotic fruits.