How we turn cacao beans into chocolate and cacao

The magnificent cacao tree (Theobroma cacao if you want to get technical). Growing on this ‘Tree of the Gods”, is the cacao pod, which is roughly to size of a small rugby ball. Inside each pod are around 30-40 seeds, AKA cacao beans.

Fun fact: did you know that the sole pollinators of cacao tree are midges! They are the only creature that can fit into the intricate cacao flowers to pollinate.

Sourcing

We source our beans from a social enterprise in the Dominican Republic called Öko Caribe. Around 165 smallholder farmers in the Duarte province of Dominican Republic pool together their cacao beans to be fermented at a centralised location nearby. The cacao is certified organic and we pay a high farm-gate price for the beans.

Nibbed is bean to bar, so that means that we look after the whole process from getting the beans and turning them into pure cacao and chocolate.

A summary of the steps from bean-to-bar

1. Import these precious cacao beans from the Dominican Republic
2. Gently roast the cacao beans
3. Separate the husks (outer shell) from the inside nib
4. Stone grind the nibs into liquid gold (100% pure cacao)
5. This liquid is then set into our 100% pure cacao OR it’s then made into chocolate

We make it sound very simple, but there are many other details in each step. For instance, to make the orange and activated walnut chocolate bark we temper the chocolate, dehydrate real organic oranges, make homemade orange powder and activate the walnuts.

We don’t do things by halves here at Nibbed, let us tell you! But we honestly love making cacao and chocolate, from bean-to-bar and wouldn’t have it any other way.