Changes

Cinagra differentiates between superior cocoa beans used for export and standard cocoa beans used for the local market. All cocoa beans undergo a quality check at the factory. Thereafter the cocoa beans are roasted between 50 and 100 minutes to bring out the chocolate flavour and colour. After immediate cooling, the beans are cracked, separating the hard outer shell from the cocoa nib. At the same time, the nibs are sorted by size and thereafter crushed in a grinding machine. The crushed nibs are mixed with other ingredients, such as cocoa butter, soya lecithin, sugar, milk powder and vanilla. This chocolate mixture undergoes the process of kneading and agitating in a conching machine for 72 hours non-stop at a temperature of around 50°C. When finished, the chocolate mixture is stored at 44°C until further processing. Depending on the final type of chocolate, a tempering machine adjusts the chocolate mixture to the necessary temperature (29°C for milk chocolate and 31°C for dark chocolate) which allows it to crystalise. The chocolate is now ready to be filled into bar forms or various theme forms. A cooling tunnel chills the chocolate slowly down to 4°C at the end of the process. The individual wrapping of the chocolate is made done by hand.