The process of making chocolate begins with the cocoa bean, which is the product of the cocoa tree. This tree is strictly a tropical plant thriving only in hot, rainy climates.

After the harvest the cocoa pods are opened to reach the precious cocoa beans they contain. Anywhere from 20 to 50 cream coloured beans are scooped from a typical pod.

Fermentation is the crucial metabolic process that transforms the cocoa bean to develop the typical chocolate flavour and a rich brown colour.

At Monggo we receive fermented cocoa beans from the farmers we work with. Before processing, our quality control will evaluate the beans by taking samples to check whether the bean's size and most important its quality meets our standards.

The beans are continuously being moved while heated inside the roaster. The roasting duration varies from fast roasting to slow roasting, depending on the type and size of the cocoa bean.

The cracking and winnowing machine helps us to get rid of the inedible shell. A mechanical wheel will grind and break the beans into smaller bits. Inside the machine, the cracked pieces of pure cocoa and hard shells will be separated by a fan, which blows off the husk, while collecting the pieces of pure cocoa, also known as “Cocoa Nibs”.

The Pre-Grinder will grind the Cocoa Nibs to form a rough, coherent mass also known as Cocoa Mass, or “chocolate liquor”, which is one of the main ingredients of chocolate.

We put the cocoa mass (created in the previous step) together with cocoa butter and sugar into the stone-grinder, where two massive granite stone wheels will turn, crunch and mix the components together. The result of this process can already be called chocolate.

The so called "Conching Machine", will then use a rotating tool to smash the chocolate in a constant motion, while hot air circulates through the mix. This process will further enhance the characteristic smell and mouthfeel of our chocolate.

Tempering is an important process to make real chocolate. It ensures that the cocoa butter in the chocolate mix retains its shape. So called “tempered” chocolate will melt at a temperature of approximately 34°C. Therefore, when consumed, chocolate will melt gently in the mouth.

To make a pure chocolate bar the tempered chocolate is poured into the mould.
The moulds can take any desired form and size, from the popular tablet to more extravagant shapes. Anything is possible with chocolate.

After cooling, a well tempered chocolate comes easily out of the mould.

In a special chamber, which has to be strictly cool, the chocolate gets wrapped into aluminum foil, to protect it from any contamination.

Each product gets another protective cover as it is wrapped into an original paper packaging. And there you go, this is where we got the final product.