Once Cadbury have bought their cocoa beans, they arrive in the United Kingdom and are transported to one of the world’s most modern processing factories, at Chirk in North Wales.
The sacks of beans are emptied out on to a conveyor belt and before anything else happens they’re cleaned to get rid of any dust and stones they’ve picked up along the way. Next the beans roasted in a big revolving drum called a continuous roaster. Hot air goes into it as the beans pass along it, and it’s during this process that you’ll really begin to smell chocolate!
The roasted beans are ‘kibbled’ (broken in to small pieces), then ‘winnowed’ – the brittle shells are blown away, leaving just the ‘nibs’, the centres of the beans. The nibs are ground between steel rollers until they become a chocolate-coloured liquid, rather like thick cream, over half of which is cocoa butter. The liquid is called ‘mass’ or ‘cocoa liquor’ and this is the basic ingredient for all cocoa and chocolate products.
Mass contains ‘cocoa butter’ and about half of is pressed out. You’re left with a solid block that can then be ground into cocoa powder.
Learn about how dark chocolate is made