SUNDAY 7TH JUNE, 2015 – UWI TODAY
7
“Mechanisation is a way to make
agriculture much easier and sexier
than how it is at the moment.”
Chocolate in Stages
The Chocolate
Making Process
1. Harvesting
– The cocoa beans are
harvested. There are three types of cocoa
beans – criollo
(premium bean)
, forastero
(the most common bean)
and trinitario a
rare hybrid of the two varieties produced
in Trinidad and Tobago.
2. Fermentation
– The beans are fermented
between 4 to 7 days
3. Drying
– The beans are dried to stop
fermentation
(turning brown in the
process).
4. Roasting
– The beans are roasted at
between 230F and 428F for 40 to 50
minutes to develop chocolate flavour.
5. Blending, Grinding and Mixing
–
Beans are custom blended according to
manufacturers requirements. They are
ground into a liquid mass called
“chocolate
liquor”,
a combination of cocoa butter
and cocoa solids. At this stage sugar,
milk, vanilla and other ingredients can be
added.
6. Refining
– The chocolate mass is sheared
into smaller particles
(about 20 microns).
This size is essential to the texture of the
chocolate.
7. Conching
–The mass is heated, mixed
and aerated for up to a few days to
eliminate any off flavours or unwanted
bitter substances. Conching increases the
fineness of the chocolate.
8. Tempering
– The chocolate is heated,
cooled and reheated to allow good cocoa
butter crystals to form and bad crystals
to be eliminated. Tempering results in
smooth and glossy chocolate with a
pleasant smell and resistance to warmth
(will not melt in your hand).
INNOVATION
Mustapha about his project. “There is no heating element
present in the melangeur, which is crucial for removing
volatile compounds.”
In other words, a locally manufactured conche could
enhance the quality of chocolate made in the region while
avoiding the prohibitive costs of purchasing and importing
a foreign brand.
Like his designs for cocoa production, Umaharan’s
vision for chocolate making is expansive.
“We have a whole range of equipment that we are
working on. We need roastingmachines. We needmachines
to do grinding. We need machines for tempering. There
are lots of small pieces of equipment that go together in
making chocolate so we are looking forward to working
with the Mechanical Engineering department so that we
have a complete range of equipment. People can come and
one-stop shop. They can buy the whole outfit to get their
chocolate factory going.”
Though they will take much time and effort to be
achieved, the CRC’s objectives for the cocoa sector are
worthwhile and ambitious.The strategy to get there however,
is already in play, and it is valuable in and of itself. UWI
students are being encouraged to pursue innovation tomeet
the specific needs of the society. In one project the university
is meeting its mandate to be relevant to its stakeholders by
fostering a culture of innovation and working towards the
growth of an economic sector.
Already, the CRC has plans to put the cocoa pod splitter
in the field in the hands of farmers to see how effective it is.
“We want to put it in the farmer’s fields so that when
they operate it we can see if they have any problems and
we can adapt and change,” Umaharan says. “That’s how
innovation happens. We have some thinking about how
the device should work but when the farmer uses it he can
say ‘ok, you need to modify it this way so that it can work
better.’ We are looking forward to putting it out there and
getting feedback. Once it works in one farm it could work
in all the farms.”
Harnarine, himself an innovator, is hopeful for the
growth of the cocoa sector but mindful that it will take time.
“The public must be patient and understand these are
students. It took me three years to go from idea to machine
(for his automated bread nut/chataigne peeler). The idea
takes time to grow and iron out the bugs. But we will work
on it and sometime soon you will see the results.”
But all signs point to the cocoa sector being well worth
the wait. In the words of Prof Umaharan:
“Cocoa has one of the greatest potentials for Trinidad
because we have research going back for about 82 years
in cocoa production. We have excellent variety. So if we
can combine those things with more innovative ways of
production then we could really make agriculture more
productive and attractive to the farmer. And once it is
profitable to the farmer and we link it to the value-addition
process, we have a complete business sector evolving around
cocoa which creates employment and opportunities for
export.”
No, not your everyday campus stroll.
