Cocoa Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Cocoa Presscake
At the factory, the nibs are then milled to create cocoa liquor. This paste has the consistency of thick butter and is at least starting to smell something like chocolate. The cocoa liquor is pressed to extract the cocoa butter; leaving a solid matter called cocoa presscake.
The machines used to do this processing of pressign out solid cocoa matter, are based on the one invented by the 19th century Dutch chemist, Van Houten. The machines eject the watery, lemon yellow melted cocoa butter and leave a cocoa presscake about 6cm thick and 35 cm in diameter.
At this stage the cocoa butter is added to the cocoa liquor. Other ingredients such as sugar, milk, vanilla and emulsifying agents such as lecithin, are added and mixed. The mixture then undergoes a refining process by traveling through a series of rollers until a smooth paste is formed. This improves the texture.
