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Trying Fermentation Part 2

6th Day of Fermentation

This means the wet beans have gone through 48 hours – 48 – 24 – 24. The last will be 18 more hours. The goal is to have fully brown 100% fermentation, which is impossible. But hopefully, we’ve done enough to be as close as possible.

Learnings from Fermenting Cacao

The great thing about fermentation is that it’s like beer where you need the alcohol, like bread where you need the CO2 to make it rise and like vinegar where you need the acetic acid, plus flavor. It is all the same except you are just getting what you need for that certain product.

SIMPLE SUGAR + YEAST (instant or naturally from environment) + ENZYMES (to work with disaccharide (refined sugar) or more complex carbohydrates) while working within a certain TIME, TEMPERATURE and HUMIDITY, plus AEROBIC and ANAEROBIC FERMENTATION

Which makes…
LACTIC ACID (yoghurt flavor)
ACETIC ACID (vinegar)
CARBON DIOXIDE (gas)
ALCOHOL
and FLAVORS that come from the chemical reaction that results to color change and others.

With cacao, maybe we don’t need to keep the acid, CO2 and alcohol unlike vinegar, bread and alcohol. The most important part is stopping germination, achieving flavor and change in color (chocolatey, fully brown).

Due to the cost of technology, it is not practical to invest on climate-controlled, stainless steel post processing and warehouse. This is for the simple reason that we don’t want our chocolate to be too expensive. The reality is only a few can buy luxury chocolates. Mass production chocolate makers will still look for the cheapest possible source with the highest quality. Unless you go niche, there will be most likely be no return on investment.

Next… DRYING.

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