Where the climate permits, cocoa beans can be dried in the sun on trays or mats.

The cacao beans and pulp are scraped out rapidly and either heaped in a pile on mats or banana leaves and covered, or placed in a pail or box with a lid.

Cacao pods are still harvested by hand since mature pods must be located and cut from the tree.

Happens when the yeasts in the air and the heat generated by the pile or box transform the pulp surrounding the cacao bean into alcohol.

Slits or holes in the box allow the resulting liquid with its alcohol content to slowly drain out of the pile of beans, leaving only the beans. Their flavour shifts from primarily bitter to the beginnings of the complex flavour known as chocolate.

Depending on the cocoa bean type and the temperature of the growing region, the fermentation process might take up to eight days.

The beans are gently shaken to allow air to enter the pile or box, converting the alcohol to lactic and acetic acid.

The beans can be dried in sheds in tropical places where daily rainfall is the norm.

The use of wood fire to speed up the drying process results in a smoky flavour in the beans.

The cocoa beans are sorted and bagged once they have acquired a moisture content of 6 to 7 percent.

The cocoa beans are subsequently packed and placed onto ships to be distributed to chocolate producers.

Sample cocoa beans are inspected for size and flaws such as insects or mould before being crushed into unsweetened chocolate and tasted by business tasters for flavour and aroma.

Any extraneous matter is removed from the beans by properly cleaning them.

The cocoa beans are then roasted for 10 to 35 minutes in a roaster.

Cocoa nibs are made from cracked (not crushed) beans that have been processed through serrated cones.

The cocoa nib may be separated from the shell since it is dry and light

. The shells are blown free of the heavier nibs, which contain roughly 53 percent cocoa butter, depending on the cacao species, by exposing them to a circulation of air.

A milling or grinding machine, such as a melangeur, is used to ground the beans for the first time. To liquefy the cocoa butter and produce what is today known as chocolate liquor or chocolate liquid, the nibs are ground or crushed.

Most chocolate manufacturers use a roll refiner or ball mill, which serves two purposes: it reduces the particle size of the cocoa mass (and any other ingredients, such as sugar or milk powder) and distributes the cocoa butter evenly throughout the mass, coating all of the particles.

Heat is generated during the rolling process, which melts and spreads the cocoa butter. Manufacturers choose the particle size for each of their chocolates, in addition to the flavour.

In the chocolate liquor, different amounts of cocoa butter are removed or added.

Some or all of the following ingredients are added depending on the chocolate flavour desired: sugar, lecithin, milk or cream powder or milk crumb (used to produce a caramel-like flavour in milk chocolate), and spices such as vanilla with the chocolate liquor is what gives the chocolate its unique taste.

Develops the chocolate's flavour.

Releasing some of the animosity that has built up.

Gives the finished chocolate its silky, melt-in-your-mouth texture.

The conch machine uses rollers or paddles to continuously knead the chocolate for hours or days, depending on the flavour and texture the manufacturer wants.

The conched chocolate mass is tempered and moulded into bulk bars (or wafers).

It may be processed again to make specific retail items like coated candy centres and moulded items.